Tall, with the brooding eyes of a philosophy major? Check. Deep North Londoner voice of a rock singer? Check. Practiced in the art of saying only the most appropriate things in an interview? Well …
In an early scene in The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Theo James found his character, Four, at a table with franchise protagonist and Four’s love interest Tris (Shailene Woodley) and two characters played by Woodley’s recent screen paramours, actors Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) and Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars). James grimly acknowledges they were aware of the situation while filming.
“‘Cause we’ve all (been with) her,” he says. Then he shouts, “In movies! We had several laughs about that.”
He’s quick to joke, but James’ admiration for Woodley, surely one of the best actresses of her generation, as an artist and a person reads as genuine. He is by turns polite and mischievous, profane and thoughtful, but is clearly fond of his co-star.
“Like any relationship, there’s an evolution. But both of us, in terms of the people we were when we started — we’re different now. Shai, obviously she’s always been a great actress, but compared to the first movie, she’s grown as a person in a really positive way. So that not only informs her performance, but it informs our friendship.
“In a nice way, Shai and I — it’s a slow burn. We are 100 percent good friends, but it’s a slow-burn thing; I think there’s still more to come. At least I hope so.”
There’s certainly more to come from James, who has only been active since 2010, yet already has 11 credits. This year alone, he has four movies on the slate, including Franny with Dakota Fanning and Richard Gere; Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture, with Rooney Mara; and London Fields with Johnny Depp. Not bad for an actor who only recently was best known for expiring in the sack on Downton Abbey.
“I had a pretty steep learning curve in film — as I’m still learning,” he says. “The more you do, the more you should be willing to make mistakes. But then I guess the more you do, the scarier it becomes. If you’re Joe Chump, then who gives a ______ ; you don’t care, do you? Rock ‘n’ roll. But if you have something to uphold, it gets a little scary.”
James’ career is taking off, but he’s philosophical about the craft. That’s likely due to his philosophy degree from the University of Nottingham and relatively late blooming (he’s 30, compared to most of his fresh-out-of-the-dorms Insurgent cast mates).
“You question, as anybody should, the overarching worth of your profession, right? So that’s a question I’ve often asked myself,” says the man whose dreaminess has launched a small army of fan sites.
“If anyone has a stringent belief they think is 100 percent correct, not necessarily that you disagree with it, but that line of questioning to find truth — that sounds so _____ pretentious — but in what I do, you need to ask questions constantly. Sometimes that pisses people off.”
“You’re constantly growing. I’ve done other movies in between” the two ‘Divergent’ chapters so far, he says. “I always think that you finish one movie, you start a new one, and you think,” he says, boldly, ” ‘OK. I did that last one. Now I’ve learned. I know how this works.’ Then by the end of the movie you think,” he says quietly, ”’No, I don’t, really.’
“But in a good way. You should be open to things happening and things changing. Because whatever you expect, it doesn’t tend to be. I’m sure that’s true with any job, but it’s a constant, constant learning process. The minute you think you don’t need to learn anything is probably when you become an actor.”
