‘The Gents’ Star Theo James Reignites His Ardour For Comedy On Man Ritchie’s Sendup Of British Aristocracy

After a stint as an obnoxious, loud American in The White Lotus, Theo James wished to problem himself by taking part in somebody completely completely different. Enter Eddie Horniman, the reserved, British Duke thrown into an aristocratic weed-growing empire in Man Ritchie’s Netflix collection The Gents. Not solely was this a possibility for a Godfather-style ascension story and an opportunity to work with the Lock, Inventory director, however James was additionally excited to take some pot pictures on the gentry that owns a lot British land — a lot to the bemusement of the real-life Duke of Beaufort, whose property was the placement for the shoot.

DEADLINE: What obtained you interested by The Gents position?

THEO JAMES: I really like ascension tales. I’ve at all times discovered them actually gratifying as an viewers member, somebody who begins off at one place and evolves into one other. I additionally just like the parallels. We talked with Man and the writers, not that we’d ever emulate The Godfather as a result of it’s clearly one of many biggest movies of all time, however that story of the younger ethical son who comes residence, turns into the top of this complicated, f*cked up household after which has to navigate the world round him. And in doing so, turns into corrupted by violence and energy.

That could be a nice conceit as a result of in a means, the less complicated, strongest conceits are those that we regularly establish with nice tales in movie and TV. After which past that was sending up British class and aristocracy. It’s such an enormous a part of our tradition and it defines British id that I believed it could be each comedic, but in addition within the lightest attainable means, fascinating to delve into this concept of an aristocratic household smashed into the world of a up to date type of Peaky Blinders. I believed that was a enjoyable mashup. After which additionally I believe this concept of landed gentry. We romanticize it, however because the script says, there’s one thing deeply corrupt about that and there at all times has been. So, commenting on that’s fairly scrumptious.

DEADLINE: There’s one thing very fascinating about your character, seeing somebody who’s so concurrently out of their depth however of their factor on the similar time.

JAMES: Yeah, he’s a tactician and he’s good and he’s most likely born to do this, however the thought Man and I have been very adamant about is he can by no means be successful always. So, when he wins, it’s virtually by chance. We constructed that into among the violence as properly. Within the second episode, when he’s type of confronted and has to claw his means out of getting murdered himself, he’s not a f*cking murderer. He’s really simply making an attempt to outlive. And within the gamut of the combat, he manages to win, however he’s at all times about to lose. After which he type of pulls it collectively within the final minute. That was at all times type of the concept about it, and I really like that.

DEADLINE: Inform me a bit about working with Man Ritchie on the collection. I do know he directed the primary two episodes, however he was with the collection for the entire season, proper?

JAMES: Yeah, he was very concerned. It felt like we simply have been filming one lengthy movie for the primary two episodes. He’s comparatively collaborative, however then he additionally is aware of tonally precisely what he needs. And when he completed his episodes, he stated to me, “Look, so long as you’ve gotten people who find themselves within the room and prepared to collaborate, you’re golden. Simply be sure to don’t go too arduous on the comedy as a result of it turns into farce. Don’t go too arduous on the drama as a result of it turns into melodrama.”

It’s a really particular Ritchie tone, and I didn’t understand how particular it was till you’re doing it as a result of it’s very true. You make it too humorous, and it turns into foolish. We discovered that, and we’d have to actually dial that backwards and forwards, each in efficiency, say with me and Freddy [Daniel Ings], but in addition within the edit afterwards with all of the characters. And then you definately lean too heavy on the drama, as a result of it’s a heightened world, and it abruptly turns into unreal in a means. Threading the needle was at all times fairly tough tonally as a result of it’s a tone that may be very particularly Man and he’s the one one who does it.

DEADLINE: You talked about the British aristocracy and, as an American with actually no idea of that aristocracy, portrayals of that world at all times appeared type of unusual to me. We don’t normally see that as a comedic issue.

JAMES: Nicely, I believe we’re used to the romance of British aristocracy with interval drama and blah, blah, blah… However the present is within the fallacy of it. What I used to be fascinated by was the truth that I’m British, however I didn’t develop up wherever close to aristocratic circles. I’ve by no means met anybody in these environments. It’s type of alien to me solely apart from in movie or literature. So, it was fascinating to movie within the property the place we shot the collection, as a result of it’s a actual property. It’s the Duke of Beaufort’s property. He’s an actual Duke and he’s type of eccentric and can be searching of his window as we have been murdering individuals and working round in hen fits, with disdain.

Then you definately Google him and he’s type of a mad character himself. I believe he’s obtained a biography about his debauched, f*cked up life within the ’80s when he was partying like an animal. So, these characters exist in actual life. It’s virtually drawing inspiration from the madness of them as a result of, like within the present, they’ve inherited land, they’ve inherited an property, as they’ve achieved for a lot of centuries. The Duke of Beaufort owns a big swathe of Wales nonetheless, however they don’t have heavy revenue. They don’t have money. So, the self-esteem is a really true one in that means, and that’s why we’re filming on the Beaufort property, it’s as a result of they want bloody cash.

After which past that, once more, what was fascinating is the ritual of these higher echelons of British society. Regardless that they’re now slightly bit a relic of what they as soon as have been, they’re type of a ghost of the previous, there’s nonetheless a lot ritual concerned in that, how they speak, how they sit, how they eat dinner, how they work together with one another. So, utilizing that comedically and never shying away from that was one thing that Man and the remainder of us have been all very eager to do. It’s straightforward to evaluate aristocracy and go, “Oh, they’re only a bunch of f*cking poshos,” or no matter. However I believe judging them as a personality isn’t the proper factor to do. You want to be seated inside that world very a lot so, as a result of there’s a variety of comedic worth to be gained from that.

DEADLINE: You most likely hear Netflix too and also you mechanically assume it’s one other Bridgerton spin-off.

JAMES: Precisely. That’s what all of the nation homes are ready for, the verify for Bridgerton 3.

DEADLINE: The very last thing that we noticed you in was The White Lotus, as a really completely different character. What was it like going from working as a loud, obnoxious American to a complicated, aristocratic British Duke?

JAMES: That’s what appealed to me about it actually, as a result of Cameron in The White Lotus represented Americana to me. He’s type of vivacious, hyper assured, loud and rich, and Eddie is totally the other of that. Not solely his Britishness may be very British, he’s very buttoned up. It’s very financial system of motion with him bodily, he’s very completely different, but in addition as a persona, he’s type of the other, which I cherished.

Cameron would converse with out forming an opinion. He’s similar to, “Yeah, f*cking this occurred and I inform you this f*cking factor as a result of that is positively the way in which it occurred.” Regardless that he doesn’t essentially know or perceive among the views he’s expounding, whereas Eddie is the antithesis of that. He listens, he takes in, then he calculates, then he speaks. So, doing the other was actually enjoyable, and once more, the physicality of it couldn’t have been extra completely different from Cameron. And after The Gents, I did one thing fully completely different once more. I’m making an attempt, in my outdated age — older age, shall I say — to problem myself extra maybe than I’ve achieved up to now.

DEADLINE: What did you do proper after wrapping The Gents?

JAMES: I did an episodic factor on Pornhub… No, I’m joking. I did a movie, which I’ve completed not that way back. It was a Stephen King quick, style, about two brothers. It’s known as The Monkey, and I get to play two characters. They’re twins. One brother who’s psychotic and the opposite brother who’s broken and intensely shy. In order that felt like a totally completely different path in a enjoyable means.

DEADLINE: …So not one other comedy?

JAMES: [Laughs] Truly, there’s comedy to it. It’s type of like Gremlins meets Hereditary, so there’s some humor in it.

DEADLINE: Aside from that, the final two issues that you just’ve achieved have been comedies. Is that one thing that you just wish to do extra of?

JAMES: I really like comedy and I wish to do extra, 100%. I began there in a means, once I was at college as an undergrad, we might take comedy that we might write and take it as much as Edinburgh Fringe Competition each summer time, and we’d get audiences in. We might hustle on the road, we might pack the home. Then the following day we might discuss what jokes labored and what didn’t work, what landed, what wasn’t working, which characters felt high quality and wanted extra evolution, what characters have been actually simply type of useless weight. After which we might adapt it and do the present once more.

Then, in my early skilled profession, once I began really doing it to pay my payments and repay my mounting scholar debt, I discovered myself in a spot taking part in… Not doing comedy. So, I’ve been making an attempt to do extra of it ever since, actually. Coming again to it’s positively one thing that I wish to proceed doing as a result of I find it irresistible and I discover it fascinating not solely as a performer myself, however having fun with different individuals’s performances throughout the work, whether or not that’s in The White Lotus and the characters that I’m performing in opposition to, or whether or not it’s in The Gents with Kaya [Scodelario] and Dan and Vinnie [Jones] and everybody else. I believe it’s so gratifying and I’d like to do increasingly of it.

DEADLINE: As you go additional into your profession in comedy, what classes are you taking from Man Ritchie’s distinctive strategy in The Gents?

JAMES: I believe a few issues. One is it’s essential to take care of stakes, and I discovered that with Man, but in addition with the method of doing the entire Gents present. With comedy, it is advisable to retain stakes with all characters and all conditions to make it possible for the air doesn’t depart the balloon, particularly with The Gents, as a result of if it turns into too foolish, the viewers finally ends up realizing that nothing actually issues. By sustaining stakes, then you may have quick and excessive comedy, however then grounded in no less than there are stakes for the characters and evolution for them. That implies that the viewers goes to nonetheless be locked into the story as a result of comedy by itself, particularly over episodes in a non-episodic TV sense, must have evolution.

The opposite factor which Man’s nice at, which I really like about sure British humor as properly, is he likes to take you on a journey, however then at all times undercut the self-seriousness of a scene. And I believe that’s a really self-deprecating British factor to do, nevertheless it’s very beneficial in comedy. You may at all times undercut the worth. If it’s a must to say one thing emphatically, you undercut the seriousness of the character in a roundabout way and that has nice comedic worth. That’s one factor Man is aware of with fashion, and I hope with the present typically, is it might probably have stakes and darkness, but in addition it by no means takes itself too critically. That may be key in comedy. You’ve obtained to be with the viewers versus other than them or above them in any means.

DEADLINE: If a second season of The Gents occurs, the place would you need your character to go?

JAMES: Season 2 was by no means mentioned after we shot it, however I believe should you enter this world once more, the essential factor is it needs to be completely different from Season 1. Season 1 is the place we introduce the characters to the world, then there’s a spine of story and there’s hijinks inside that. Should you proceed in the identical realm with the hijinks factor, I believe you are concerned that you just detract from among the first season and it doesn’t construct, and among the storylines change into a bit meaningless. So, I believe should you do it once more, it wants doubtlessly to maneuver out of Halstead Manor, it doubtlessly would transfer out of Britain as properly for a few of it.

For me, once more, you by no means emulate it as a result of it’s among the best movies of all time, however the thought of The Godfather, that his soul is correctly darkened, and me and Man at all times had slightly little bit of a debate with this. I wished, even within the first season, for Eddie to be slightly darker than he’s on the very finish. However I’d say in the event that they’re going to go there once more, Eddie significantly wants to enter the mouth of the satan and he must be absolutely corrupted and in consequence, the others round him don’t acknowledge the person he’s change into.