Industry star David Jonsson reveals why it was important his new prison drama didn’t feel "exotic"

Since breaking out with his role as Gus in the first two seasons of Industry, David Jonsson has emerged as one of the UK's finest young actors – impressing in a diverse range of films including Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk.

Now, for his latest role, last year's BAFTA Rising Star Award winner is starring alongside another up-and-coming British actor – People We Meet on Vacation's Tom Blyth – for gritty prison drama Wasteman, the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Cal McMau.

The film is inspired in part by real footage that was shot inside prisons on contraband mobile phones, and speaking to Radio Times at last year's London Film Festival, Jonsson explained why it was important the film captured the harsh realities of prison life as opposed to the sanitised or glamorised depiction that can sometimes be seen in Hollywood films.

"I think we knew from the offset that we weren't going to make anything that felt exotic or glorifying violence," he said in an exclusive interview. "Like, those films exist and some of them are cool, but that's not what we were doing here."

He explained that the production had worked with a "wonderful charity" called Switchback, whose goal is to help bring former prisoners back into society and readjust them to a more normal way of life.

"They gave us so much," he explained. "[And] 50% of them was like our cast – they were all in in it. And they helped us, not just sculpt the world, but also sculpt our characters. Having that as your baseline, just meant that we were able to elevate this into a thrilling place from that kernel of truth, that kernel of society.

"Because prison affects all of us. Like, we pay our taxes, you're contributing to it, and it's a system that does need a bit of reform."

Wasteman is a film that had been a long time in the works, and counts as something of a passion project for Jonsson. He had first auditioned for the role as far back ago as 2017 – well before his big acting break – and considered it something of a "miracle" that it ended up being made at all.

"Making films is really hard," he explained. "When I auditioned for this, I'd just left school, and I just wanted to do theatre, because that was something that I know and love. [But] I got this one script through that just meant so much to me. It felt like people that I'd come in contact with, growing up in East London, it just felt like people that I knew."

He remembered thinking he'd "nailed" his audition, but when months passed and he never heard back, he assumed that he must not have done enough to secure the role. The reality, though, was that the film "just fell apart" due to funding problems.

And so when he found the script again, Jonsson was able to use his newfound cachet to get it made as not just an actor but also a producer – something which also allowed him to "sculpt" his character in a way "that felt really current and real to me."

He added: "I couldn't do it then... it was meant to happen now, And I couldn't imagine acting with anyone opposite of me than Tom, it was exactly the way it was meant to be."

Wasteman is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20 February 2026.

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