When Theo James learn the script for the second season of The White Lotus, the British actor wasn’t instantly positive what he may deliver to the a part of Cameron. The character was “one other finance bro”: cocky, suave and superficial. “Attention-grabbing,” he recollects, “however we’ve seen it 100 instances.”
On the audition, although, the 39-year-old James was received over by Mike White, who writes and directs the hit HBO collection, a comic book psychodrama revolving across the staff and hyper-wealthy friends of the fictional White Lotus resort resort. The primary season was set on Maui. The second, with a principally new solid, relocated to Sicily and was extra explicitly carnal and lascivious. Cameron was a part of a foursome, along with his spouse (performed by Meghann Fahy) and one other couple (Will Sharpe and Aubrey Plaza) whom Cameron seems to wish to dominate bodily and sexually.
James determined to have enjoyable with Cameron. He instructed White that he would make him super-handsy: at all times touching and squeezing shoulders, asserting his alpha standing. And in each scene, inside purpose, he can be consuming or ingesting, sending the message that his urge for food was voracious. White liked the concepts and gave James the half. “Mike needed to tread the road between lover and bully, between charmer and sociopath,” says James. “I type of understood that character: his effervescence. Cameron was 40% me and 60% folks I got here throughout at college and afterwards. There’s one thing deliciously charming typically about these full cunts. You hate to be round them, but in addition like to be part of it.”
And the 40% that’s James? “I’ve been irritatingly aggressive all my life, annoyingly,” he says. “Deeply, irrationally aggressive – to the purpose the place it’s detrimental. I’m getting somewhat higher, however it was undoubtedly a part of my identification. And nonetheless is.”
James had a really stable profession earlier than The White Lotus. He was the liberty fighter 4, reverse Shailene Woodley, within the vastly common Divergent trilogy, and an aristocratic vampire in a pair of Underworld motion pictures with Kate Beckinsale. On TV, he starred within the ITV historic drama Sanditon, primarily based on an unfinished Jane Austen manuscript, and within the 2022 sci-fi collection The Time Traveler’s Spouse, written by Physician Who’s Steven Moffat. However his brilliantly creepy efficiency in The White Lotus has elevated James to a different degree of fame. “That was a present,” he says. “It’s not cataclysmic fame, however it has been vastly useful by way of opening doorways that had been tougher to open earlier than.”
We’re assembly early night at Chiltern Firehouse, resort to the celebrities in Marylebone, central London, in a louche cocktail bar with a mahogany-panelled fire, opulent leather-based banquettes and attentive white-jacketed employees. It’s an applicable spot wherein to speak about James’s new challenge: he can at the moment be seen as Eddie Horniman, the incoming Duke of Halstead, in Man Ritchie’s eight-part Netflix collection The Gents. That stated, I’m not completely satisfied that such a chichi, rubbernecking boîte is precisely a private pleased place for James, who has darkish eyes, a few days’ beard progress and attire in low-key blacks and greys. He orders a bottle of beer, sinks into his seat and admits, “It’s humorous that I selected this trade as a result of I’m a bit allergic to speaking about myself. I discover it robust, if I’m sincere.”
James was 13 when Ritchie’s breakthrough Lock, Inventory and Two Smoking Barrels got here out in 1998, and dealing with the director has been one thing of an ambition. “That movie was a cornerstone of my adolescence, in a manner,” he says. The chance has include The Gents, a follow-up to Ritchie’s 2019 movie of the identical title. The unique starred Matthew McConaughey as an American who has develop into Britain’s pre-eminent marijuana vendor, largely via discovering impoverished aristocrats and creating football-pitch-sized weed farms in huge bunkers below their estates.
The premise for the spin-off Netflix collection is similar, however with recent faces and settings. Early on, James’s character Eddie inherits his father’s 15,000-acre property solely to search out that the household’s primary supply of revenue is a subterranean marijuana operation run by Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario, from Skins) and her father (Ray Winstone), who’s at the moment stress-free at His Majesty’s pleasure. Vinnie Jones is the property’s omniscient groundskeeper.
“The central conceit is that old-world Britannia is on its final breath,” says James. “And the crumbling home, this crumbling dukedom, is underpinned by criminality. On the face of it you’ve the higher class profitable. However beneath that, finally, they’re managed by organised crime, which is clearly the opposite finish of the spectrum by way of class. So it’s subverting that.”
Working with Ritchie, who directed the primary two episodes and was concerned all through, was by no means uninteresting. “It was a little bit of an odyssey as a result of, you realize, there’s the Man of it,” says James, smiling. “You both give in or… it’s going to finish badly for you! He has the script, and the story, however then, on the day, it’s fully rewritten within the room. The primary couple of days, it’s somewhat little bit of shock and awe.
“However you might be Ritchied at any level,” James goes on. “Since you cease studying your traces, and he’s like, ‘No, I like that one. No modifications right here.’ And also you’re like, ‘Oh fuck, I’ve bought three speeches.’ You’re at all times in your toes.”
James is superb, once more, in The Gents, however in a extra understated manner than The White Lotus: he’s the ethical compass (in relative phrases, a minimum of initially) of a comic book caper filled with outsized performances. And though the premise is outlandish, Ritchie clearly is aware of the world of the British landed gentry and skewer it. Since 2001, when he purchased it along with his then-wife Madonna, he has owned and lived in Ashcombe Park, a 1,000-acre-plus property in Wiltshire. “Man loves each ends of the spectrum,” James says. “He’s actually within the gentleman, the thought of what meaning, each actually and existentially. However then he’s within the elevated underbelly of Britain on the identical time.”
Has James snagged an invitation to go capturing with Ritchie? “I’ve by no means been capturing with him and I’ve by no means been to his nation pile,” he replies. “However I’ve heard it’s fairly the place.”
James himself wasn’t raised within the rarefied world of The Gents. He was born Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis in Excessive Wycombe, the final of 5 kids to Philip, a enterprise marketing consultant who grew up in New Zealand however whose dad and mom had been Greek, and Jane, who has Scottish roots and labored for the NHS. He initially directed his performative efforts in the direction of music and was a singer and guitarist all through his teenage years and past. The final of his bands was a rock outfit referred to as Shere Khan, which dispersed in 2012. (There are nonetheless movies on YouTube they usually’re completely nothing to be ashamed of.) “I used to be in some OK bands, some horrible ones,” he recollects. “However I had a good sufficient crack at it that I believe I made the precise selection. As a result of I might have failed.”
After college – philosophy at Nottingham – James educated on the Bristol Outdated Vic Theatre College. Professionally, and personally, this turned out effectively. He met his now-wife Ruth Kearney, an Irish actor, and the couple have two younger kids and cut up their time between north London and Venice Seashore in Los Angeles. And work-wise, James graduated and instantly began touchdown small however seen roles: in Woody Allen’s 2010 movie You Will Meet a Tall Darkish Stranger and as a grating membership rep in The Inbetweeners Film in 2011.
It’s not precisely 4 years of bit components in Casualty and The Invoice. “Yeah, completely, and I used to be very fortunate,” says James. “However you’re nonetheless hustling and looking for your house within the trade. And it continues to be a hustle: any profession could have fixed ups and downs. The thought of simply being continuously upward and upward and upward till existential ecstasy-slash-orgasm, I’m undecided that exists.”
James’s massive break got here when he was solid in Divergent, a dystopian sci-fi movie primarily based on a bestselling YA novel: launched in 2014, it grossed almost $300m, in opposition to its price range of simply $85m. He all of a sudden had legions of younger followers. “There’s a particular fervour round that sort of film, and it turns into fairly intense for a minute after which it cools off,” says James. “However at the moment, I wasn’t ready for it. I used to be a boy from Aylesbury… The primary Comedian-Con I did, my brothers got here with me. However that was fairly a grounding factor anyway, as a result of they had been simply taking the piss out of me and we made it a little bit of a trip. Nevertheless it’s a troublesome place to grasp your self.”
Initially, James responded by turning in opposition to something that wasn’t appearing: he discovered trade events “frivolous” and didn’t a lot take pleasure in doing press. “I’m fairly a personal particular person,” he says, “and also you’re anticipated to offer a bit of your self now. That’s OK, however that you must perceive that that’s a part of a deal one should do with the satan, because it had been, whoever the satan could also be. However that was my defence mechanism for being nervous.”
All this most likely makes James sound way more critical and intense than he’s. He’s very straightforward and considerate firm: I’ve by no means interviewed anybody who has requested so many questions in return. A part of this may be deflection, however he additionally clearly has an engaged, stressed thoughts. Throughout the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, he had an “existential disaster” and began questioning whether or not he would proceed appearing full-time. Earlier than doing philosophy at college, he had thought of finding out marine science. James began wanting into whether or not he may do a postgraduate course in California, in order to not fully sever his hyperlinks with Hollywood.
“We had our first little one, our daughter, throughout Covid, just like the deep lockdown,” says James. “So it was a wierd time, however a blessing in a manner, since you type of recalibrated. And the way do I put this? Typically I’m like, ‘Do I have to do one thing to assist society indirectly?’” He laughs, “Particularly when life is fairly quick. Appearing is… it’s enjoyable. And in its finest manner, there’s artistry to it, but in addition, are you furthering mankind in any manner? I don’t know. Typically I give it some thought.”
After all, when the lockdowns ended, there was extra demand for TV and movie than ever: The White Lotus led into The Gents. However James seems to nonetheless be unresolved. He’s typically listed within the operating to be the brand new James Bond: as auditions go, you might consider his efficiency in The Gents may simply catch the attention of Barbara Broccoli, the producer who oversees the 007 movie franchise.
“Oh, Barbara Brocs…” says James, with a smirk. “I say that as if I do know her: by no means met her, know nothing about it. However I’ll give her a nickname. Everybody’s desirous about that as a result of it’s a giant a part of British cultural identification, however that most likely wouldn’t be me. I do assume there are higher folks for that job. And, actually, it might be terrifying: when you try this, there’s no going again. You’re opening Pandora’s field there. You’ve got to be prepared to stay a really completely different life and have a distinct life for your loved ones. And that will be fairly tough. Plus, my mates would take the piss out of me. As a result of they at all times say, ‘Bondopoulos – the Greek Bond.’”
Is the hypothesis flattering or annoying? “It’s flattering, however it’s additionally each male actor inside a sure age,” James solutions. “It’s not prefer it’s two dudes. It’s 50 guys, actually 50 folks. So no… I’d wish to play a seminal British determine in a distinct historic interval. I do know it’s been performed so many instances, however I’ve at all times appreciated the thought of exploring Henry VIII in a manner that isn’t outlined by the maniacal sociopath. As a result of he was that, however then there’s additionally the journey to develop into that man. And he formed Britain and our sense of social understanding of what it’s to be British.”
Since 2019 James has had his personal manufacturing firm, Untapped, so watch this house. After we meet, although, he’s about to go to Vancouver to shoot The Monkey, a horror movie primarily based on a Stephen King story about twin brothers (each performed by James). Kearney and their two kids, the youngest of whom is somewhat over six months outdated, will base themselves in LA whereas James shoots and they’ll meet up at weekends. James is evident that changing into a mother or father has modified his priorities and perhaps even taken the sting off his aggressive streak. “You soften somewhat bit, don’t you?” he says. “I believe I simply at all times needed to win and you may’t at all times win on this trade. It’s fully wasted vitality.”
James has to get residence: bedtime (presumably his kids’s) is looking. Having a companion who’s an actor helps with the juggle. “As a result of they could be a sounding board for every little thing you do and vice versa,” says James. “I’d perceive for her and he or she me maybe, if one thing was essential profession clever you might need to make a sacrifice. However, on the identical time, you’re in a position to say, ‘Don’t try this. That’s a bit of shit. We’re not leaving the nation for that.’”
The Gents is on Netflix now
Trend editor: Helen Seamons. Grooming: Nadia Altinbas utilizing FaceGym, Patricks and Sisley. Trend assistant: Sam Deaman. Photographer’s assistants: Gabor Herczegfalvi and Brandon Hepworth. Tailor: Nick James. Shot on location at Residence Home
