THE ELLE LIST: JOSH O’CONNOR
The BAFTA nominee on how he gets into character
Last year, God’s Own Country – a low-budget indie film by first-time director Francis Lee – became an unlikely hit. Set in rural Yorkshire and with a cast of newcomers, it followed the burgeoning romance between two men: a struggling farmer and a Romanian migrant. O’Connor’s performance as the former was so visceral that even his audition had the director fooled: there was no way a person could portray the pain, anger and Yorkshire accent of this character with such integrity without coming from a similar background… or was there?
In Josh’s short career, he’s already picked up a BAFTA Rising Star nomination and a string of challenging parts, from a disaffected teen in the offbeat Bridgend, to an aristocratic misogynist in The Riot Club. Next up, he’s Marius Pontmercy in this Christmas’s BBC adaptation of Les Misérables, and Prince Charles in series three of The Crown, airing in 2019. ELLE speaks to the actor-on-the-rise about going method, the importance of LGBTQ cinema and his surprising schoolyard hero…
1. ‘I WANTED TO BE A FOOTBALLER… but acting was what I was good at. As a kid, I wasn’t particularly academic, so when you’re told, “You can do this”, it felt right. There was a girl above me at school, Tahliah Barnett, who really inspired me. We did Bugsy Malone together. She was the only person of colour at our school and had absolute belief in whatever she did. Now she’s known as FKA Twigs…’
2. ‘AT EVERY EARLY AUDITION I WAS TOLD I DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH “LIFE EXPERIENCE”.
Before getting a place at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, I applied to all the big drama schools and they’d all say it. At one audition, this woman didn’t even look up from her desk when she said, “You’re 17. How can you be an actor when you have no life experience?” I said, “There are three-year-olds in Africa with more life experience than me, and probably 40-year-olds with less. How can you gauge experience by age?” I did my speeches and left.’
3. ‘WITH EVERY CHARACTER, I ASK MYSELF
HOW MUCH OF A STRETCH IT IS. For Johnny [in God’s Own Country], I knew I had to throw myself into it so I didn’t recognise Josh anymore. I’d talk in the accent and I worked on the farm, so when they called action I could lift a sheep and inject its chest like a regular farmer. It was draining, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat for the right role.’
4. ‘IT’S A REALLY AMAZING TIME FOR LGBTQ
CINEMA, with Beach Rats, Call Me By Your Name, our film and then 120 Beats Per Minute.
God’s Own Country was made for less than a million pounds and it’s been a critical success, but it was also a commercial success. I think that’s the next step – when queer cinema isn’t being made as a niche but as a commercially viable product. There’s an appetite for it.’
JOSH O’CONNOR ELLE LIST WHETHER he’s PLAYING a GAY FARMER in YORKSHIRE or PRINCE CHARLES, JOSH O’CONNOR REFUSES to BE PIGEONHOLED. SHANNON MAHANTY MEETS a BRITISH ACTOR on THE CUSP OF EVEN BIGGER THINGS