It’s hours before the 2022 World Cup Final on a blistering cold December afternoon, and instead of drinking pints with their friends in the pub and cheering on history-making Lionel Messi to be crowned 'the G.O.A.T' in football, a new generation of actors are gathering in a north London studio to discuss the movie moments inspired them to become actors and push the boundaries of film to a bolder place.
‘My first memory of film was back on video cassette; it might have been The Lion King or The Jungle Book,’ admits BAFTA Rising Star nominee Daryl McCormack, who shot to fame last year for his role as a young male sex worker opposite Emma Thompson in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. ‘My mum used to run a nursery for kids after they finished school.’
For Top Boy’s Micheal Ward, it was the 2002 Jamaican film Shottas which cemented itself in his memory as one of the most impactful films of all time. ‘I hadn’t been able to go back to Jamaica for many years of my life and there aren’t that many Jamaican films that I’m aware of,' he says of first watching the crime film as a child. 'To be able to watch that film and [see] what Jamaica was really like within a story, and it not be a documentary, was really beautiful.’
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Rosy McEwen, star of Blue Jean and winner of Best Lead Performance at the 2022 BIFAs, credits the power of Blue Valentine for opening her up to the power of film. ‘It’s so human and so real,’ she says of the 2010 romantic drama, starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling. ‘You just watch a couple living their life, having arguments and bickers, and mundane but such honest conversations and moments.
Having starred as a gangster in Peaky Blinders and a young author in forthcoming The Tutor opposite Richard E Grant, McCormack says he’s currently inspired by a lot of Irish actors. ‘I’m not biased, but I love Jessie Buckley, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal is amazing. All these people who are around my own age.’
‘We have to keep venturing into areas and demographics that we haven’t represented fully and keep exploring. I definitely like being biracial and Irish. If you think of an Irish person you think red hair – that’s a stereotype – but Ruth Negga was a massive inspiration for me starting off. I’d like to continue representing the diversity that’s in Ireland at the moment.’
As for Jonah Hauer-King, who will soon appear on our screens in the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, he’s striving to have ‘the insane level of talent’ as his favourite actor, Daniel Day Lewis. ‘Around the time I was signing with an agent I was about 17 and I came quite late to it and watched There Will Be Blood, by Paul Thomas Anderson,’ he recalls. ‘And I remember my agent, who is still my agent, said “what kind of actor do you want to be, what kind of performance would you like to emulate?” and... Daniel Day Lewis… I said "it’d be alright to be like that, if possible?"'
For The Witcher star Anya Charlotra, Meryl Streep has always been her go-to inspiration in the industry. ‘She’s just played so many different characters and from that moment on I said “I want to be a character actress like Meryl Streep”. I’m in awe of her and the amount of characters she’s played.'
While Ewen credits Charlize Theron’s scene-stealing portray of a criminal in the 2003 film Monster (‘she’s so far away from herself and she’s pushing the aesthetic boundaries in the sense she’s stepping into someone else’s skin, and she is so unafraid of the way she looks’) Ward says it’s Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in the film of the same name which has left a last impression about 'owning' a character. ‘When you watch a performance and think who else could’ve done that? and you can’t think of anyone else, I really think that’s special,’ he notes.
Amid ongoing controversies about ‘nepo babies’ – a term coined by New York Magazine in December 2022 to describe someone with parents who are already famous - The Acolyte’s Dafne Keen says nepotism is becoming a ‘real issue’ in the industry. ‘But not just from parents, but from social media and other professions [too],’ she says. ‘It’s not to say they shouldn’t be doing film, but it’s so sad to see so many actors fighting for their studies to be able to learn how to act and then there are so many people who deserve those opportunities and don’t get them because of people who just felt like it would be fun to do… there are so many actors who don’t get a shot just because they don’t have the luck or the platform that others do.’
![london, england december 01 anya chalotra attends the world premiere of the witcher season 2 at odeon luxe leicester square on december 01, 2021 in london, england photo by mike marslandwireimage](https://cdn.statically.io/img/hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1675684601.jpg?resize=640:* ""The Witcher: Season 2" World Premiere - Arrivals")
Looking back at his time filming The Little Mermaid opposite singer Halle Bailey, Hauer-King opens up about what needs to be done in the industry to improve representation and diversity behind and in front of the camera. ‘There have been a lot of brilliant conversations over the years and a lot of work has been done when it comes to opportunity, access and visibility,’ he says, adding: ‘This is partly from doing The Little Mermaid, it’s really hit home how important it is for people to see themselves on screen. Having all types of people write their stories and having those stories being told and all different types of actors from different types of backgrounds, I think some work has been done on it, which is brilliant, but that to me is something that there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.'
Ward agrees, noting from his perspective: ‘The main thing I think a lot of Black actors share is to keep creating opportunities for Black people to be in leading roles… I think what I want to do is improve and tell more Jamaican stories.’
‘There are long-held traditions in this history, most of which are fine but many of which need to be broken down,’ notes Hauer-King, concluding: ‘Making sure it’s as an inclusive industry as possible is so important not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes for better art.’
Watch the Movie Moments That Made Me video at the top of this article.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
