Josh O’Connor on "awful" audition for movie blockbuster – and why he was afraid of being similar to Prince Charles

This month, before starring in the forthcoming Knives Out movie and taking on a lead role in Steven Spielberg’s new top secret sci-fi film, he’s back on the big screen in The Mastermind, playing a failed carpenter who turns to robbing art... unsuccessfully.

Over the years, you’ve played characters different to you, like Prince Charles in The Crown and a washed-up tennis pro in the film Challengers. Is it hard taking on new personalities?

Actors are all deeply insecure. That’s why we do what we do. If you break down what an actor is being asked to do, to become someone else and step into the shoes of a character that oftentimes barely resembles them, the skill is bringing elements of yourself to that character.

With Prince Charles, there was a fear of admitting that there’s a part of me that’s anything like him. Initially, I was like, “No, I can’t, it’s just the ears, it’s the ears!” But then with Challengers, it was different. I knew Luca [Guadagnino, the director] wanted this very confident, chest-out, cocksure guy, and I didn’t recognise that in myself, necessarily. Most of the time, you’re answering out of fear.

Work fears aside, what are you most scared of in life?

Honestly, I’m scared of everything!

What’s the hardest part of acting?

The reality is it’s not easy and it is quite difficult and there are times when you feel quite isolated and lonely and you’re not around your friends an awful lot.

How were your early years when you started out?

I had years of auditioning and not getting roles, and sometimes getting really close to roles, but then not getting them.

Are there any experiences that still haunt you?

My first ever audition was for the Russell Crowe Les Misérables [2012]. They were auditioning everyone! But I didn’t know that. I don’t have any actors in my family, so everything was new to me. I’d never seen Les Misérables – I have now! I went in and I sang the Marius song, Empty Chairs, and they said to me, “Josh, we would love you to come back”. So I got a recall, which was good, but I’m very dyslexic, so I didn’t read the full email. I just read, “We want you to come back!”

A week later, I’m on my way, walking through central London to go to my recall and I bump into a friend of mine who was doing the play Richard II with Eddie Redmayne. He’s like, “Where are you going?” And I was like, “I’m really nervous. I have a recall to be in the movie of Les Misérables.” And he said, “My friend Eddie is playing Marius!”

I then realised my recall was for a very minor role, but I hadn’t learned the song… I didn’t even know the song. And it was awful. I didn’t get that part [O’Connor did get to play Marius in the BBC’s non-musical adaptation of Les Misérables in 2018].

In your new film, The Mastermind, you play James Mooney, who is your second art thief in a row after La Chimera in 2023. How different are they?

Arthur in La Chimera has a conscience about stealing, he feels very uncomfortable about it. The stealing is just his way of getting closer to what he’s trying to find. Whereas this guy…

Mooney’s less conscientious… and ambitious?

He just gets it wrong at every step! I remember Kelly [Reichardt, the director] discussing whose art to steal. Arthur Dove is great because he was sort of loved, but it wasn’t like stealing a Jackson Pollock. Dove’s worth some money, but it’s not crazy-crazy. So, all round Mooney just gets it wrong.

Did you enjoy dipping into the film’s very 70s vibe?

I remember we had some boys playing our children and in a dinner scene they started making sculptures out of the mashed potato – it was so nostalgic going back to a time when there were no mobile phones, no television and kids were kids. You had to make fun wherever you could, even if it was with mashed potato!

The film is really about the best laid plans of mice and men going wrong. Are you a good planner?

As an actor, you can’t really plan anything. I haven’t been able to book a holiday any further ahead than two weeks for the last 13 years, because you have no idea where you’re going to be week to week. So, I stopped making plans. The ability to be malleable is essential. Otherwise, you don’t see anyone, you don’t do anything.

Away from acting, is it true you’re into making ceramics?

Yes! The dream is to have my own studio with a kiln.

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The Mastermind arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 24th October.

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