The Crown star shares about his preparations to play Prince Charles and his early acting career.
The play’s the thing
My interest in acting started at a young age when I saw an amateur dramatic Christmas pantomime in a small village in Devon, England. I remember feeling the excitement in the room. It was electric. It developed a little further when my parents introduced me to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, and then to film.
The reigning prince
The challenge with Charles was finding someone we could recognize as Charles but who served as a fresh new character in the narrative of the show. I didn’t want to mimic the real Prince Charles. The opportunity was to create someone new.
Great performances
When you see Joaquin Phoenix in The Master or Daniel Day-Lewis in My Beautiful Laundrette, you want to play roles like that, but I think the interest is in the performance. When a good character lands, I get incredibly excited, and ultimately that’s what I search for.
Finding inspiration
I remember seeing Pete Postlethwaite in Brassed Off years ago. . . . He certainly got me inspired, and I still look back at his films for inspiration. He is so understated. Truthful. David Thewlis, I love, too. His performances always surprise me. He seems to relish the transformation.
Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor)
Building character
I’ve always created a sort of scrapbook for each role, sort of like a character encyclopedia. I’ll collect images, prose, even smells. It gives easy access to a sensory memory, which can be incredibly helpful on set when your mind wanders. For Charles, I found images of polo . . . lots of plant research, as he’s a bit of a horticulturalist. Ultimately, it’s quite a private process, though. I don’t tend to share the scrapbooks with people.
Most awkward moment
My worst audition was actually for a play. I get very nervous in auditions, and I find them pretty bizarre as a process at the best of times. This particular one didn’t go brilliantly, and in the blind panic trying to leave the audition room, I awkwardly went to kiss the casting director on the cheek. She went to kiss me on the same side. I had no idea what to do, so ended up kissing her on her forehead. I didn’t get the job.
Wild for Wilder
I will always love Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It’s a near-perfect performance, I think. He feels magical — at times fatherly, and then moments later deeply flawed and fragile. It’s a tense performance. I would have loved to see him play the Joker.
The ears have it
I have so many fond memories from The Crown. Speaking in Welsh at Caernarfon Castle was pretty special. I remember it was the first day filming with the rest of the cast — pretty nerve-racking. Another very happy memory was when a supporting artist approached me in Wales after a scene and said, “Have you seen Ben Kingsley in the film Gandhi? Did you know they pinned his ears forward? What did they do to make yours like Charles?” I said, “These are my real ears.” He looked white as a sheet and replied, “Oh no!” I hope he knows I didn’t mind at all!
Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor)
