JOE ALWYN
From student bar to movie star
The story of 27-year-old North London actor Joe Alwyn’s rise to fame is straight out of a Hollywood fairy tale. Little over two years ago, Alwyn was entering his final year as a student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama when he caught the eye of two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee. The Taiwanese auteur behind Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility cast Alwyn (who up until then, had never been in front of a movie camera) for the emotionallycharged lead role in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – a film that documents the f lashbacks and stark realities facing a 19 year-old soldier who becomes a hero following a harrowing battle in Iraq. In a matter of months, Alwyn catapulted from unknown student to leading man, starring alongside heavyweight actors like Kristen Stewart and Steve Martin. Yet despite having a string of blockbusters in the pipeline – including Operation Finale and Mary Queen of Scots
– as well as a Prada campaign under his belt, Alwyn defiantly remains the same Kentish Town-raised boy he’s always been: humble, ambitious and grounded. How would you describe working with Ang Lee? It was definitely surreal, overwhelming and strange at times. I’d never been to America, I’d never been in front of a camera and these were people I grew up watching, so there was definitely that surreal element to it. With him being at the helm I couldn’t have felt safer: he’s such an incredible, special and kind person. I really owe him everything. One minute you were in school, the next you’re the lead in a Hollywood movie. How did your classmates react? Everyone, including my schoolmates, was real ly proud and happy – even I didn’t really compute what was going on. Which in some ways was good, because I didn’t have time to get nervous. I was thrown in so hard and fast that it didn’t really have time to sink in.
What’s life been like since then?
I don’t feel any different as a person really – it hasn’t changed who I am. Every job is still a surreal experience and a learning curve. When you’re auditioning for the things you really want, it’s r are to find something that really suits you or that you real ly love. I give it everything I can when I’m auditioning for those roles. Your upcoming movie, The Favourite, was directed by Palme d’Or winning director Yorgos Lanthimos. What was it like working with him? And your co-star Nicholas Hoult? I’d met [Nicholas] a couple of times before actually, and he’s great. He’s so much fun, a lovely person, and he’s so funny in the film. Yorgos is not the same as Ang but he’s a visionary too. He has such a singular, unique, i ndividual mind – h is films are so special and unusual, so to get to work on one of those was incredible. I play a guy called colonel Samuel Masher – he’s relatively high status i n the court of Queen Anne, and there’s this young servant character who is looking to climb the ranks. She spots him and they lust after each other: particularly him towards her, and she quickly cottons on to the fact that she can climb the ranks if she were to marry or become romantically involved with him. Every scene between them is a cat and mouse power play. I can imagine working on a Yorgos set is pretty surreal… It’s not as crazy as you’d think it would be. Although had a two-week rehearsal per iod and that was the crazy bit. We ended up just rol l i ng around on the f loor and playing lots of dif ferent games, and then when he turned up to set – which is a very calm, control led set – very l ittle is said in terms of direction. And again, there’s no talk of character or motivation. He builds such a descriptive set with the lighting and the costume it’s already done for you. He’l l just say “louder” or “quieter” or “faster” or “slower” – he’s very minimal in that way.
Boy Erased is also due to come out later this year. The film follows the son of a Baptist preacher who is forced to partake in church-supported gay conversion programmes. A lot of your roles have an element of social commentary – is this an intentional? The script was such a shocking and moving story, especial ly in l ight of what’s going on today. The heart of the film explored gay conversion therapy which is especial ly disturbing during a time when we have an American vice president who has spoken on the record about leading g ay c onversion t herapy – s o i t seems like an appropriate time to look at how mad and terrifying those places are. When reading something, I know pretty quickly if I like something or not. By and large the things I’ve wanted to be involved in I’ve fought for.