It’s not each day that I meet a real-life Disney prince. It’s much more discombobulating when he tells me he spent the weekend cheering on Clapton CFC ladies’s crew in windy east London. “Earlier than The Little Mermaid, lots of people advised me, ‘That is going to occur! That’s going to occur!’” says Jonah Hauer-King, who starred as Prince Eric in final yr’s remake. “It’s simply actually not the case. I wouldn’t say my life has modified a lot. Truthfully.” It’s most likely about to, although. Massively.
The 28-year-old lifelong Londoner is sharply suited and booted within the capital’s Corinthia lodge, able to tackle a full day of press with the poise and appeal that clearly helped him bag that wide-eyed royal half (he even convincingly claims that these interviews are value lacking his beloved Arsenal’s Champions League recreation within the night for). His subsequent mission, nonetheless, is a world away from Disney goals.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is Sky’s epic drama taken from Heather Morris’s bestselling 2018 novel. The guide is predicated on the true story of Lali Sokolov (Hauer-King), a Slovakian Jew who’s given the job of tattooing numbers on to fellow prisoners within the Auschwitz-Birkenau focus camp. He tattoos and falls in love with Gita Furman (Anna Próchniak), and so they each handle to outlive and discover one another once more.
It’s a harrowing and deeply upsetting watch. And but there are uncommon, valuable moments of hope in its love story. Hauer-King, an early fan of the guide, spent hours talking with government producer Claire Mundell to make sure the story was in a respectful and protecting pair of arms.
“The very first thing I did was return to Auschwitz [he first visited it as a teenager], to pay my respects and method it as an grownup,” he says of his year-long deep analysis. “But in addition to method it extra within the context of the story we had been telling.”
The three-month shoot in Slovakia was powerful. “It was at all times going to be fairly draining,” says Hauer-King. Probably the most stunning second got here when most of the solid needed to shave off their hair. “In another context, it may be fairly an innocuous factor to do – it’s form of only a haircut,” he says. “However understanding why they shaved individuals’s heads, why they needed to dehumanise individuals and take away their id … Having been one thing I used to be fairly matter-of-fact about, after I truly got here to do it and noticed myself within the mirror, it was so poignant. I wasn’t anticipating that.”
Regardless of its world success, the story acquired criticism relating to its authenticity: the Auschwitz Memorial Analysis Centre claimed that quite a few historic particulars of the camp are flawed. Morris has at all times stated that the guide, based mostly on months of interviews with 87-year-old Lali in 2003, isn’t an educational piece of non-fiction, and says “95% of it’s because it occurred, researched and confirmed”. It’s Lali’s story, she advised the New York Occasions: “I make point out of historical past and reminiscence waltzing collectively and straining to half, it have to be accepted after 60 years this could occur however I’m assured of Lali’s telling of his story, solely he may inform it and others could have a distinct understanding of that point however that’s their understanding, I’ve written Lali’s.”
Within the collection, that is addressed by having Morris (Melanie Lynskey) meet and communicate to the older Lali (Harvey Keitel), who tells his story via flashbacks. Hauer-King says that Morris, who government produces on the present, was very open to taking the novel as a blueprint and doing extra analysis on each level of the story. Nonetheless, does he fear a couple of comparable backlash?
“Yeah positively,” he’s fast to reply. “Once you inform a narrative like that, on the one hand you wish to guarantee that all the pieces is being executed to make sure authenticity. However, we had been conscious that we’re not making an attempt to inform a definitive story of the Holocaust and it’s positively one man’s story.”
The timing of such a present is one other contentious level. When journalists had been first invited to observe clips of the drama in a London lodge final November, Israeli director Tali Shalom Ezer joined over video as she couldn’t fly due to the disaster within the Center East. Jonathan Glazer’s current Oscar-winning Auschwitz movie The Zone of Curiosity proved how highly effective display screen tales are in scary uncomfortable however important discourse on present conflicts. Hauer-King agrees: “That’s so vital. They actually have a major half to play. I don’t assume they’re there to switch different mediums like documentary.”
Nonetheless, there’s a baffling second after I point out that he signed an Artists for Palestine UK open letter alongside Tilda Swinton, Charles Dance and Steve Coogan, calling for a Gaza ceasefire final October. “Oh truly, I haven’t. I didn’t find out about that,” he says in shock. “Inform me concerning the letter.” He provides: “That’s to not say that I wouldn’t have [signed it], however no I don’t assume I’ve.” (His identify nonetheless seems on the checklist on the time of writing and his crew have since declined so as to add additional touch upon report.)
Hauer-King has a outstanding household historical past – his Jewish grandparents fled Poland for Canada between the wars in 1929. “They went on the SS Lituania, which took you throughout the Atlantic to Halifax,” he says excitedly. “We just lately discovered all the information and pictures of [my grandad]. It’s a rare story. His grandparents, who he didn’t include, had been sending letters intermittently for years … after which they simply stopped.”
The affect of that is robust. Followers of the sensible drama World on Fireplace will recognise Hauer-King as Harry Chace – a younger translator who finds himself in a love triangle when he’s despatched to Poland. He additionally starred with Clive Owen and Tim Roth in François Girard’s adaptation of The Music of Names, following a Polish orphan after the second world warfare. “Id and who we’re, the place we come from and our previous historical past via household – it’s one thing I’ve at all times been actually fascinated by,” he says. When he advised his mom concerning the function of Lali, she had blended emotions: “She felt very proud that I used to be making one thing that felt actually significant, but in addition shared my feeling of how vital it was to deal with this story and what a duty it was.”
Hauer-King grew up in Camden; his mom, Debra Hauer, was a theatre producer and his restaurateur father, Jeremy King, co-owned the corporate behind the Wolseley. He initially needed to be an indie rock star, enjoying guitar in a band referred to as Rova. “It was most likely the happiest days of my life, gigging round north London venues just like the Lexington,” he laughs. Had been they any good? “I at all times say: ‘Oh, we had been garbage.’ However then I believe I’m simply saying that … I used to be pleased with it on the time!”
after e-newsletter promotion
He went to Eton and studied theology and spiritual research at Cambridge College, however then pursued performing as a profession. The dominance of the privately educated within the arts looms massive, however he’s refreshingly up for speaking about it with complete acceptance. “I used to be at a faculty the place drama was taken so severely – you had been actually given a stage. I used to be allowed to discover that. And that was the place I fell in love with it. I believe you have to personal it and put your arms up and say: ‘It is a very actual drawback and that is one thing you’ve got benefited from.’ To disclaim that you simply’ve been given an enormous leg up? It could possibly be fairly insulting.”
This formative privilege could clarify why he appears so grounded and unchanged as he breaks Hollywood and launches one of many greatest dramas of the yr. He nonetheless lives in Camden and would by no means transfer to Los Angeles. “A variety of my pals aren’t actors; while you’re right here, you’re surrounded by one million individuals doing various things and I actually like that,” he says. “London for me nonetheless represents residence away from work. I’m wondering if the traces can be blurred a bit extra in someplace like LA.”
Plus, he’s acquired that soccer season ticket to profit from. Though, he says: “After I was filming Tattooist, a method I attempted to take myself away from the shoot was to observe Arsenal. It was this time final yr, after I was assured they’d do it [win the Premier League], but it surely began going downhill. Now I’m far more arms off. I’m not going to make any daring statements.”
Proper now, he has the Tattooist premiere to attend, the place he’ll meet his co-stars Keitel and Lynskey for the primary time. “The realities of filming manufacturing and scheduling meant I didn’t [meet them], which was devastating. I really like them each a lot! And now I’ve watched it and they’re each extraordinary in it.”
Hauer-King is a busy man after that. He stars as Giacomo Casanova in upcoming movie A Lovely Imperfection, which centres on Casanova’s nice love, Lucia. He’s additionally filming Physician Who subsequent month (he’s very tight-lipped on any particulars) and studying a number of scripts so he can choose his subsequent mission properly. However his Disney days are firmly behind him.
“The Little Mermaid was actually completely different to something I’ve ever executed. There was a lot happening round you; our director referred to as it the circus. You’ll be able to’t consider the dimensions of it while you stroll on the units – a rainforest set, a ship set, or flying to Sardinia and being on a seashore,” he says. “However I’ve simply made one other movie the place you stroll on set and it’s a front room … It might really feel restrictive to do the very same sort of factor once more.”
“Once you do a job like Tattooist, you understand not each job goes to really feel that significant,” he says. “However you additionally realise how unbelievable a job it may be, should you watch for the fitting one to return alongside.”
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is on Sky Atlantic, 2 Could at 9pm
