Joe Alwyners

Dedicated to actor Joe Alwyn

[joealwyners]

JOE ALWYN ON CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS AND SEX SCENES: ‘THEY’RE LIKE FILMING FIGHTS - QUITE MECHANICAL’

He’s about to make you swoon in the new adaptation of the Sally Rooney blockbuster. The actor talks about earning the author’s seal of approval and winning a Grammy alongside Taylor Swift.

The plan was to meet Joe Alwyn at an old‑fashioned pub in the area of London where he grew up. It’s a nice pub, tiny, a selection of beers with wacky names on tap, percentage proofs that would make your eyes water. But we both arrive just before noon, and the doors are locked, so we awkwardly hang around outside, peering in through the window, looking to all the world as though we are desperate for a late-morning drink.

I am not sure that Alwyn is as desperate to speak to me, though over the course of a slow and steady pint, he is very polite and easy company. The actor, 31, has been on the brink of being a big star ever since he left drama school in 2015, but his route to fame has run at a slightly different angle from his route to acting success. His partner is Taylor Swift, one of the most famous women on the planet, so there is that. He is tall, handsome, with floppy 90s heart-throb hair. He is quick and funny and confident, low-key in a fleece and jeans.

For a while, we are the only people in the pub. He uses humour to deflect awkwardness, and I suspect it suits him that nobody can hear what we’re saying. Alwyn is about to star as Nick, the married, maudlin actor who has an affair with a student, Frances, in Conversations With Friends. The adaptation is the second of Sally Rooney’s novels to be made into a television series, after the lockdown-fuelled smash hit Normal People. The director of both, Lenny Abrahamson, said he cast Alwyn as Nick in part because he was “soulful”. “What does that mean?” Alwyn splutters. You tell me, Joe. “I’ll take it. I don’t know! So soulful,” he repeats, with a hint of embarrassment.

Rooney had a say in who played her characters. “I was told she was doing this and that,” he says, waggling a thumb up and down. “I mean, not literally doing that, like a gladiator or an emperor. She was involved in casting and watching tapes.” When he got the part, due to his soulfulness presumably, he contacted the author, and they exchanged a few emails. The shoot was going to be in Dublin, where they planned to meet, but late in the day it moved to Belfast. “So we didn’t. But I sent her an email just being like, ‘Thank you’, basically. Thanks for the thumbs up, Sally.” Rooney’s books are full of highly articulate emails and texts. “She does a good email,” he nods. So how did you approach the pressure of emailing her? “Many, many drafts. I did my best email. It just felt really nice to have her blessing.”

Alwyn had read Conversations With Friends and Normal People already, long before his involvement in the former. “I read Normal People before I knew they were making a show out of it, and I remember when I saw it thinking, I’d love to be in something like that.” Normal People’s sex scenes between Connell (Paul Mescal) and Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) became such a talking point that people began to lust over Mescal’s silver chain, as if everything else about him had been exhausted. In Conversations With Friends, Nick has a heated affair with Frances, and Alwyn is fairly regularly, if tastefully, naked in it. “We were guided through it with an intimacy coordinator, Ita O’Brien, who is great,” he says. “They’re essentially choreographed. So they’re like fight scenes. They’re quite mechanical. And obviously they’re weird, funny, strange things to do with your friends. But when Lenny’s in the room, cracking jokes, and there’s 10 crew members around, and it’s freezing cold or boiling hot, it just takes all the sexiness out of it.”

Besides, he says, the sex scenes are there for a reason. “They are kind of extensions of the conversations, in their own way. Each one, hopefully, should feel slightly different and mean something different to the people involved, and they’re not just kind of gratuitously thrown in. But, I mean, obviously, it’s a weird part of the job.”

Normal People and Conversations With Friends are different stories, and different series, in many ways, but if his series follows the Mescal trajectory, is he prepared for the idea that he might become a pin-up? “I honestly just don’t have any thoughts about it,” he says. They only finished filming four months ago. “I haven’t let myself think, ‘Oh God, people are actually going to see it’, so I haven’t thought about that side of things. Which is a boring answer, I know.”

Anyway, this is a serious drama, not a bonkbuster, and it deals with serious themes. Nick is married to Melissa (Jemima Kirke), a successful writer, and their marriage has not always been monogamous. But when Frances (newcomer Alison Oliver) and her best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobby (Sasha Lane) start to entangle themselves in their lives, the four of them are forced to ask grownup questions about love, jealousy and honesty. Nick is certainly a complicated character who runs hot and cold, and he is difficult to pin down. “When you meet him, he’s in a place of recovery – he’s been through a storm and is slightly numb to the world. And he’s just kind of functioning, and we meet that version of him, but we don’t really know why,” Alwyn says. It isn’t until later in the series that we start to learn who he is. “He can be a real enigma, and sometimes frustratingly so. He’s quite aloof and enigmatic and unreadable.”

I am not sure that Alwyn is aloof, but he has more than a touch of the enigmatic and unreadable about him. He has been a steadily successful actor since 2016, when his first job was to star in the Ang Lee-directed Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, alongside Kristen Stewart. He followed it up with smaller roles in a series of award-winning films, including The Favourite, Mary Queen of Scots, and Harriet. He has fronted campaigns for Prada, and has also won a Grammy, after collaborating with Swift on her 2020 album Folklore. Despite all of this, I say, I don’t know very much about you. Few details of his life are public, which he seems to prefer, but it does mean we have to start at the beginning. So you grew up …

“I grew up in this pub,” he cuts in, grinning. “I was born in this garden and I’ve never left. Very happy here, thank you.”

He actually grew up near where we are today, in Tufnell Park, a well-to-do neighbourhood in north London. His mother is a psychotherapist. “I never felt like I was lying down on the couch and being analysed every evening, which is probably a good thing. I managed to escape that. But she’s great with people and great to talk to. People always think that must be strange, having a mum who’s a therapist.” Well, it is interesting. “It definitely is. It’s an amazing job. I actually think if I didn’t do this, I would be interested in doing something like that.”

His father is a documentary film-maker who also teaches film-making. He instilled a love of films in the young Alwyn by giving him stacks of VHS tapes for his birthday and Christmas presents. “He makes fly-on-the-wall, observational human stories. When I was growing up, he was often away, and I remember him being in these far-flung places a lot, bringing back cool gifts for me and my brother.” Did you ever go with him? “I was never invited.” He leaves a beat. “Don’t worry, I spoke to my mum about it,” he quips.

He has two brothers, one older, who works for an NGO, and one much younger, who was born when he was at secondary school, and has just left school himself. Alwyn went to a private boys’ school, on a scholarship and bursary. He enjoyed it, and made a group of friends that he still speaks to all the time, even today. He didn’t really act at school; he mostly played sport. “I was good at football. Tennis. I just like athletics, generally.” He squirms. “‘Just generally’. It sounds so arrogant! ‘All of them’.”

“IM AWARE OF PEOPLE’S INTEREST IN MY RELATIONSHIP, AND THE MORE IT’S FED, THE MORE YOU OPEN A GATE FOR INTRUSION”

Were people surprised that he wanted to be an actor? “I feel like I’d given enough hints that it wasn’t a complete bombshell when I wanted to do it, but I do think there was probably a feeling of, why?” He studied English and drama at Bristol University, and then went to drama school in London. Immediately after his final showcase, so the fairytale version of the story goes, he signed with an agent and was asked to audition for Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain, Sense and Sensibility, and The Ice Storm.

Was it really that simple? “It was as mad as that,” Alwyn says. He sent over a tape, and got a call saying Lee wanted to meet him that weekend. “So they put me on a plane. I hadn’t been to America before.” He landed in New York, in the snow, and immediately went out to find a New York slice of pizza. “Within five days, I’d left school, had a visa and was in boot camp in Atlanta. As it went on, I managed to relax and enjoy it. But at the beginning, in the first week or two of shooting, I was shitting myself.” And then it was over. “Everyone else stayed in America. I had to go back home and walk the dog the next day, it was pouring rain and I was back in this garden,” he smiles. “And life continued.”

After Billy Lynn, Alwyn had a run of nasty characters, historical figures, and sometimes both. He was a slave-owner in Harriet, and the son of a Nazi in Operation Finale. In The Favourite, he has a comic turn as Masham, who seduces Emma Stone’s Abigail, dances a silly dance with Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah, and is a thorn in the side of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne. “All three of them are amazing. Just down-to-earth, funny, nice people.” He says that it is fascinating to watch Colman work. “Because it can be so easy to sit in the corner full of nerves hyping yourself up for a scene, but she is so chilled and fun and cracking jokes, and then she’s just in it and out, and then it’s done.”

Masham is a supporting character, a small-ish role, but Alwyn decided early on that he would rather take smaller parts with directors he admired than always go for the big, splashy jobs. “There are a couple of things I probably did just because I wanted to work, but I’ve tried to be pretty picky,” he says. Does that require a healthy ego, to be happy to play the supporting role, rather than insisting on being the star? “The idea of being the lead role just for the sake of it seems ridiculous,” he says, then catches himself. He likes to make sure he is being understood. “Well, it doesn’t seem ridiculous. Each to their own. But I’d much rather play an interesting support role in an interesting film. I find that more attractive.”

Since 2016, if the internet is to be believed – details are sparse, and will remain so, largely – Alwyn has been in a relationship with Swift. His film career brought him a level of recognition, but the level of fame he has been exposed to around his relationship is something else entirely. Was that a shock? “It’s not something I think about, unless I’m in situations like this, and someone says, ‘What’s it like?’ and I have to think about what to say about it,” he says, though he does have plenty to say on it, which suggests he has thought about it at least a little bit. He is more clipped when he talks about this side of things, and a bit less jokey, as if practised in being firm. “It’s just not for other people,” he says, of their relationship. “And I don’t say that with aggression.”

He will concede that he can see why people might be interested in it. And people are interested. Her 2019 song London Boy, about fancying a charming, sporty north London boy with lots of mates, is rumoured to be about him, but, other than that, they say very little about each other in public. I tell him I watched a nine-minute compilation on YouTube that collected everything they had said about their relationship in public into one handy video. “Well, I hope that was illuminating,” he says, drily. It wasn’t, actually. “That doesn’t surprise me, because I don’t know what people would be going off.”

He pauses, for what seems like an age. “I don’t know how best to talk about it. I mean, I’m aware of people’s … of that size of interest, and that world existing. It’s just not something I particularly care about, or have much interest in feeding, I guess, because the more it’s fed, the more you are opening a gate for intrusion.” He is aware that this makes him sound guarded. “I think that’s just my response to a culture that has this increasing expectation that everything is going to be given. If you don’t post about the way you make your coffee in the morning, or if you don’t let someone take a picture when you walk out of your front door, is that being private? I don’t know if it is. So I just don’t really feed that.”

“THE SONGS CAME FROM US MESSING AROUND. IT WAS LIKE BAKING SOURDOUGH IN LOCKDOWN. THE GRAMMY WAS THIS RIDICULOUS BONUS”

His own Instagram is strictly work-based, and there is little hint of anything beyond a film set. “If you and I were having a conversation, and having a shandy in my house, and it wasn’t being recorded, then, of course, other things would be said,” he says, echoing what Swift told this paper in 2019. (“If you and I were having a glass of wine right now, we’d be talking about it – but it’s just that it goes out into the world,” she said, back then.) Did they decide, from the beginning, to have a party line, and not to talk about each other? “Erm. It was just like, well, why? There are more interesting things to talk about and I just think it feeds into a weird part of the culture that I’m not really interested in being a part of.”

One thing he will talk about is their musical collaboration, which turned him into a Grammy winner. I did want to ask about music, I say. “Go for it, and I will sing for you,” he jokes, happier to be back on solid ground. When Swift released Folklore, two of the songs, Betty and Exile, credited a mysterious co-writer called William Bowery. Fans speculated as to who it might be, and Swift later revealed that it was a pseudonym for Alwyn, who also co-wrote some of the songs on its follow-up, Evermore. “That was a surreal bonus of lockdown,” he says, checking himself. “That’s an understatement.”

What was it like to work with your other half, in her line of business? “It wasn’t like, ‘It’s five o’clock, it’s time to try and write a song together,’” he says. “It came about from messing around on a piano, and singing badly, then being overheard, and being, like, ‘Let’s see what happens if we get to the end of it together.’ ” He liked it because there were no expectations and no pressure. “I mean fun is such a stupid word, but it was a lot of fun. And it was never a work thing, or a ‘Let’s try and do this because we’re going to put this out’ thing. It was just like baking sourdough in lockdown.” But not everyone’s sourdough resulted in a Grammy. “The Grammy was obviously this ridiculous bonus.”

Did he have any musical ambitions before this? “I like music, and I played a bit of guitar awfully in a school band when I was 12.” They were called Anger Management, and they covered Marilyn Manson’s version of the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). “I can play piano pretty badly, but never with the intent of, ‘Right, it’s time for my jazz-fusion album.’” He grins. “Unfortunately.”

He’s joking, but if a jazz-fusion album does emerge one day, it wouldn’t be such a curveball. He is about to take some time off and has no immediate jobs lined up, he says, which is fine by him, as last year was so busy. His recent work indicates a Robert Pattinson-style swerve into the arthouse. He had a small role in Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II, and his next two films will be Stars at Noon, an adaptation of a Denis Johnson novel directed by Claire Denis, and Catherine, Called Birdy, a medieval comedy directed by Lena Dunham. “Again, I think that all comes from working with Ang Lee, and the luxury of that at the beginning,” he says. “I would just much rather do that for now and ‘build’, which sounds awful,” he says, beginning to collapse into a cringe, “and like, oh, grow as an actor, which also sounds awful.” He looks mortified. “Do you know what I mean?”

I think I know what he means. He sounds like someone who is satisfied with life as it is, and where it’s about to take him. We finish our pints. Alwyn is heading off to meet someone on Hampstead Heath, and we shake hands, politely, as we say goodbye. He heads out into the street, eyes on the path just ahead.

Conversations With Friends starts on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer on 15 May.

[joealwyners]

JOE ALWYN INTERVIEWED FOR ESQUIRE UK - DIOR HOMME

Joe Alwyn on the Dior Show & His 'Hamnet' 'Do : “I Was Given a Rough Haircut That Made Me Look Like a Potato”

The British actor got ready with Esquire ahead of the Dior show in Paris

Joe Alwyn has made a real commitment to getting dressed up. The British actor has enjoyed acclaimed roles in period films like The Favourite, where he wore an 18th Century get-up comprising a cocked hat and cutaway coat, as well The Brutalist, in which he wears some of the best neck ties we’ve seen in recent film history. In 2018's Mary, Queen of Scots, he played the handsome loverboy, sporting a ruffle neck and leather tunic. It's a thing.

But Alwyn has become a bit of a fashion favourite off-screen, too, consistently serving in structured blazers, doubled-up polo shirts and impeccably-cut tailoring. No surprise, all things considered, that he’s a muse for Jonathan Anderson, the creative director of Dior. The Irish designer's collections for the French maison, thus far, have been steeped with costumey references - Edwardian shoulder pads on T-shirts, for instance, in the Autumn/Winter 2026 collection - and you’d be forgiven for thinking he was designing with those aforementioned Alwyn roles in mind.

“I guess, as a person, you’re just kind of constantly drinking in what's around you, and parts of those things are absorbed and taken in, and maybe you hang on to some of it,” he tells us after the Dior show in Paris, where he sat front row. “Something might stick and you add it to your own pile. Inspiration for my style could come from anywhere, whether it’s a film, an image or a family album.”

Off-screen, Alwyn's personal style leans towards workwear and good craftsmanship. “I loved the extravagance of the clothes in The Favourite, but I probably couldn’t pull the costumes off in real life. I like shopping for clothing with purpose,” he shares, explaining that he takes this mantra with the way he approached buying for his home, which he’s just purchased, too. “I feel like I'm quite consistent in that sense. I'm not driven so much by trying to make a moment for a moment's sake, or wearing a logo for the sake of a logo. I like finding pieces that fit well and feel good that I can wear forever. I like objects that are an extension of who you are or people you’ve met.”

That's not to say his costumes always stay on-set. Alwyn owns a pair of boots from his debut role in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, in which he played a soldier. “They're a pair of American army boots and they are ridiculously comfy. They make me feel like me. They have an element of nostalgia to them, and I just wear them again and again and again.” Other pieces that he consistently wears are his Carhartt jackets. “I won’t ever bring myself to get rid of them, I love the fit of them and they’re always knocking around.” He cites Daniel Day-Lewis, a workwear maverick, as a guy “who’s got it down.”

Alwyn’s latest role saw him jump into costume once again. In Chloé Zhao’s critically acclaimed Hamnet he plays Bartholomew Hathaway, Agnes' (Jessie Buckley) older brother. For the role, he's decked out in an ill-fitting white shirt, dirty brown slacks and some fetching suede gloves.

Did he take anything away from the outfits in the melancholic period drama? “I didn’t take much away to be honest,” he says, laughing. “I was given a pretty rough haircut that made me look like a potato. I guess the clothes back then were made with care and to last, which suits me. Things weren’t as expendable. Paul [Mescal] looked great on a horse, but that’s more accessorising.” But Alwyn did leave the production with a special keepsake. “I was given one of the benches from the Globe. I have that at home. I think Jesse got one too.”

Up next? More costumes for Alwyn. “I have a film version of Hamlet coming out soon in which Riz Ahmed is playing the lead role,” he says. Alwyn will play Laertes, the brother of Ophelia with a penchant for shiny armour. In fact, he’d probably be down for some of Jonathan Anderson’s shoulder-embellished tees and frock coats. “They’re amazing, but I’m not sure I could pull it off in real life,” Alwyn says once again, laughing. We beg to differ.

Interview by Zak Maoui

Photographed by Jason Lloyd-Evans

[joealwyners]

Joe Alwyn for Essential Homme in 2018.

[joealwyners]

JOE ALWYN FOR EE72 MAGAZINE.

Joe Alwyn commanded the screen in 2025’s The Brutalist. With Hamnet on the way, it seems as if 2026 will be no different.

If your life right now were a scene in a film, what would the opening shot be?

I’m doing a play right now and I’m spending a lot of time under a rain machine. Maybe the opening shot can be something like The Truman Show, where Jim Carrey is sitting on the beach and the heavens open up and it’s raining right on top of him, and him alone. I’m getting that eight times a week right now.

When did you realize this was what you wanted to do, and that you weren’t meant to play it safe?

I’m not sure there was a lightbulb moment. But I used to run around the house as a tiny person and carve little Zs for ‘Zorro’ under tables and behind radiators and inside cupboards. I just wanted to ride horses and sword fight and impress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

What are you most excited about FOR 2026?

I’m excited for people to see Chloé Zhao’s beautiful film,Hamnet. But first, there’s another 50 or so shows [of The Lady from the Sea] to get through at The Bridge. A lot of rain to dry off from.

[joealwyners]

JOE ALWYN FOR GQ GERMANY – THE 2025 MEN OF THE YEAR ISSUE

“Hollywood star Joe Alwyn is making classic values cool again. He seeks out challenges in his work with the greatest directions.”

Joe Alwyn is not looking for great fame, but for the perfect roles for him.

Eloquent demeanor, a reserved nature, impeccable manners – these are the qualities that define the gold standard of a worldly gentleman. But in the age of social media, these attributes have become rare. Joe Alwyn is an exception. He embodies these classic values. Observing his public persona, he stands out from the vanity fair that is Hollywood with his decency, depth, and inner peace. The fact that he comes from an educated, culturally rich London family and also wears impeccably tailored suits completes the picture.

Joe Alwyn wins GQ Man of the Year

When “The Brutalist” emerged as one of the top Oscar contenders earlier this year, it was also a banner moment for the 34-year-old Briton. With the epic film about immigrants to the US, in which he played one of the leading roles alongside Adrien Brody, he solidified his reputation as a master of complex characters – and also boosted his chances of becoming the next James Bond. Alwyn could well be a guest at the next Academy Awards ceremony. His new film, the Shakespearean drama “Hamnet”, is already generating considerable buzz. Most recently, he appeared on stage at London’s Bridge Theatre alongside Alicia Vikander in Henrik Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea.” This year, he's also one of our GQ Men of the Year. A perfect opportunity to talk to him about his work.

GQ: Congratulations on the GQ Men of the Year Award!

Joe Alwyn: Thank you, it’s a great honor. I’m specially looking forward to coming back to Berlin.

Do you know the city?

I hadn’t been back since I stopped there with some friends on an Interrail trip when I was 21. I’ve forgotten the details, but we were kicked out of the hostel where we were staying and forced to leave the city abruptly. I loved it there, so I’m even more excited to be going back.

Joe Alwyn’s first major role in the theatre

You’re currently performing in London for three hours almost every night. How are you doing?

I’m a bit tired, but I’m okay. We have Sundays off, but that’s not quite enough time to fully recover. It’s enough to wake up next Monday with something like jet lag and have to start all over again. It’s fun, but we’re all pretty exhausted.

This is your first time on a big stage, right?

Yeah, I haven’t been on stage since drama school. You usually only do two or three shows for agents, friends, and family.

Where did the desire to go into theatre come from?

I’d want to do this for a long time, but I didn’t know how, with whom, or what the right project might be. Then I came across Simon Stone, an Australian-Swiss director and writer. I’d read a lot about him and seen a film about his hit play “Yerma,” for which I’d tried for ages to get tickets. But the screenings were always sold out. So I was familiar with his work, and when he asked me if I wanted to work with him on Ibsen, I was fascinated. I’m very glad I said yes.

You studied literature and drama, so you're a theatre expert. Why did you choose Ibsen in particular?

That's very kind of you, but I'm definitely no expert. You know, I haven't even read the original text. Simon asked me not to. It was really his working method that interested me. I knew he takes old texts and reinterprets them in strange ways to highlight their contemporary relevance. This means that at the start of rehearsals, there's no play. He hasn't written anything. You don't even really know who you're going to play. So he said not to read the original, even if your character is based on a role in it. I said, "Okay, I'll just trust you. You're going to give me something fun." And then you come to rehearsal and you kind of sit around, chatting throughout the day, but not even necessarily about the play. Every couple of days, he might come in with a few new pages, and you just sit together and read them.

How did you experience this way of working?

You're not standing on your own two feet. It's a very strange, slow, peculiar process because the finished piece is only ready for its premiere very shortly before. We only rehearsed the play in front of an audience on the day of the premiere. So you just sort of keep going and go a little crazy.

“It’s in the nature of this job to always have to start over.”

The play has been running since mid-September and is receiving high praise from critics. Are you still nervous before you go on stage?

Good question. In the first few weeks, you're full of adrenaline. The way Simon works, he's constantly changing the play. He cuts scenes, rewrites them, and you get notes about what's new. So I'm kind of on my feet all the time because I have to have internalized all the changes right up until the last minute before the performance. I now share a dressing room with my colleague John Macmillan; he's wonderful. We sit there together in the hour before the show and do a few superstitious rituals. We talk. We listen to music. And we drink a cup of tea.

That's very British of you. What do you drink after the performance?

Definitely something stronger (laughs)!

Does a kind of routine actually develop when you play the same piece six days a week?

What you're describing is something that kept me from acting in the theater for a long time. Because you have to perform every night, I thought I'd just be repeating myself. But in reality, there's a great deal of freedom because I can do it differently every night. A film is self-contained. The moment a scene is shot, it stays that way forever. In the theater, you can be inspired by the audience every night. The Bridge Theatre seats 1,100 people. That's quite large, but it still feels intimate. You can sense whether they've come for Ibsen or to laugh, whether they're focused or not. That influences the way I act. That's why it always feels alive and always different, never boring or stagnant. It's fulfilling to be out there, and that's something I've never experienced to this extent before. It's completely different from film, where you sit in a trailer all day, waiting to shoot a ten-minute fragment that doesn't fit with the next scene. Yes, our stage collapsed once, and things can get chaotic at times. But it's all great.

As an actor, you're constantly part of a new, ad-hoc family where you have to completely open up and be vulnerable, and which then falls apart again after a certain time. How do you deal with that?

Yes, it's strange. It's wonderful because for a short time you feel very, very closely connected in a very special way. As you say, you're vulnerable with each other. You talk about things you might not tell other people—and then it's over, and you say goodbye. It's in the nature of this job to constantly start over. There's something truly beautiful about that because you're always searching and having these hopefully wonderful experiences. But it's also exhausting.

Joe Alwyn on a life in constant motion

Do you sometimes wish for something other than this constant artistic wandering?

There are times when I think about what it would be like to always have the same workplace with the same people around me. But when you're freelance, that anchor of stability simply doesn't exist, and that has many advantages, but also brings with it a certain amount of strangeness. But yes, when we're finished with the play, I'm really going to miss the people I've been seeing every day for the past three months.

You are friends with your colleagues Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott. So it seems possible to maintain close relationships even after filming has ended.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with so many lovely, funny, and kind people, many of whom are still a part of my life. I see some of them regularly, others only occasionally. But because of the projects we've shared, it feels like we were just together yesterday. My closest friends are mostly still the people I went to school with when I was twelve. None of them do the same job as me. I like that we've all known each other since we were little. I enjoy that balance between people who work in the same industry and people who have known me forever. But I feel really lucky with my jobs—I'm thinking of Chloé, with whom I filmed "Hamnet," and Aneil, with whom I worked on "Hamlet." I've been friends with both of them for a long time.

His role in “Hamnet”

With "Hamlet" by Aneil Karia and "Hamnet" by Chloé Zhao, you now star in two Shakespeare films.

Both jobs came about primarily because I knew these people. I met Chloé in 2017. We became friends and talked about wanting to collaborate someday. We kept seeing each other over the years, and when she finally said, "I'm working on this project. Would you like to be involved?", of course I was. I've known Aneil since drama school. So yes, I've been lucky enough to have people around me whom I admire creatively, but who I also simply get along with well. I love them as friends.

"Hamnet" tells the story of William Shakespeare's more or less forbidden love for a woman named Agnes and how this relationship is said to have inspired the play "Hamlet." You play Bartholomew, Agnes's brother, who, in a way, legitimizes the marriage. What did you see in this role?

When I read the script, I felt that Bartholomew stood beside Agnes like a tree—calm, almost stoic. He's like her guardian angel, always by her side, at her wedding, at births, and at deaths. I also liked that the two of them grew up together in the forest, as outsiders and separated from everyone else, so there's this deep connection between them. I felt that he's someone who resists change and is afraid to let Agnes go—both for good reason. He's quite suspicious of William and doesn't understand why she wants to take the leap to somewhere else. I felt that he sees a certain selfishness in it. In Bartholomew's life, everyone is leaving—starting with his deceased parents. He wants to keep Agnes close and has reservations about William, but he still has enough magnanimity to trust Agnes's love for William and let her go. All of this makes Bartholomew a truly complex, yet gentle and good person.

Joe Alwyn's connection to Shakespeare

The film reaches its greatest strength right at the end. In a performance of "Hamlet," Shakespeare appears in the role of the ghost, and the immense power of Shakespeare's dramas becomes palpable. Do you recall an early encounter with one of his plays?

As a child, I was once on holiday in Wales with my family and saw an amateur theatre performance of "Hamlet" in the ruins of a castle. I didn't really know what was going on, but the mere fact that it was a castle and people were fighting with swords was enough for me. I remember sneaking into the film adaptation of "Hamlet" with Ethan Hawke on tiptoe. I was maybe ten years old; the film was rated for ages 12 and up. I even had a mouse named Hamlet once. Later, when I saw Ben Whishaw play the role on stage, it really made an impression on me. So I feel like this play has been with me my whole life, as is the case for many people who love Shakespeare.

You named a mouse Hamlet?

Embarrassingly, yes, I did. So you can imagine what Hamlet means to me.

Which Shakespearean character would you most like to play?

I could name many, but let's be honest: Hamlet is at the top. It's simply so well-written and universal. We can all find ways to identify with him.

In your career so far, you've acted in many historical films, some of which required you to ride a horse. Now, on the cover of GQ, you're once again seen with a horse .

Poor horse. I was sitting on him in leather trousers. I hadn't ridden in a long time, so I enjoyed the shoot.

The actor's biggest challenges

Were you already familiar with horses, or did you have to learn for your roles?

As a child, I went riding a couple of times. Once, my father was supposed to watch me, but he didn't, and then I fell off the horse. So my experiences weren't exactly great. But for the roles in "The Favourite," "Mary Queen of Scots," "Harriet," and others, I received riding lessons, which I really enjoyed. That's why I was so happy to be sitting on the GQ horse.

For "The Favourite" they also had to learn some extraordinary, very funny-looking dances.

That was a lot of fun, too. Partly because my co-star Rachel Weisz and Yorgos Lanthimos, the film's director, were there. You don't usually see that kind of dance in historical films. It was crazy, strange, modern, and silly.

What was the biggest challenge a role has ever presented you with?

I once learned to play the clarinet, but never got the part. My first film, in which I played a soldier…

"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" directed by Ang Lee...

That's right. The role required the most physical changes and the most new skills from me. I went to the US and spent two weeks at a Navy SEALs boot camp learning how to use weapons and things like that. It was really exciting. Because it was my first job, everything was incredibly intense. Looking back, I feel like the boot camp almost killed me. But it was a fantastic experience.

“I have always been quite selective in choosing my roles. When it comes to who I want to work with, I can rely on my gut feeling.”

Joe Alwyn on Yorgos Lanthimos

That was almost exactly ten years ago, and you've had a remarkable career since then. What has been your biggest motivation during this time?

I've always been quite selective when choosing my roles. When it comes to who I want to work with, I can rely on my gut feeling. From the beginning, I've tried to find people with their own voice, people who do something special. If I meet people who are creative and with whom I get along well, then I want to learn from them. It's always been about finding something that I myself would like to see or be. That meant saying no to a lot of things and perhaps waiting a little longer here and there.

"Whatever Lanthimos asks of me, I'm there and I trust that he will create something unique and special – whether it pleases just one person or a million people."

By "selective," you probably mean that you've chosen truly complex, challenging characters. I imagine that directors like Ang Lee, Chloé Zhao, or Yorgos Lanthimos greatly appreciate this quality. The latter is considered one of the most influential directors of our time; besides "The Favourite," you also collaborated with him on "Kinds of Kindness." What did you learn from Lanthimos?

Trust. I loved his films even before I met him. He often has actors do strange things, but he makes sure they feel comfortable and safe. I think he's unique, and I like his artistic sensibility. I trust him. Whatever Lanthimos asks of me, I'm there, trusting that he'll create something unique and special—whether it appeals to just one person or a million.

How did you two meet?

After "Billy Lynn," I received many offers, and as I mentioned, some of them were larger roles. But none of them interested me as much as the supporting role in "The Favourite." So I auditioned for it. However, the initial focus was on casting the female roles, and that took a while. In the meantime, Yorgos and I chatted for an hour on Zoom. We talked about all sorts of things; we didn't even discuss the film. We discovered we clicked, and he offered me the role.

Will Joe Alwyn be the next James Bond?

Now, you might soon be offered a completely different role: You're on the list of potential new James Bond actors. Do you like 007?

Like most people, I grew up with the James Bond films and still watch them today. I really love them.

The discussion about the next Bond has been going on for years. You know some of those on your list very well. There's your friend Paul Mescal, for example, with whom you also made "Hamnet." Do you laugh together about the constant rumors?

To be honest: I know just as much as you do. I'm a big fan and just as curious about what happens next as everyone else.

Since the beginning of 2025, creative control over the Bond films has rested with Amazon's film studios, ultimately with Jeff Bezos, and not with the British studio Eon Productions. As a Briton, does this feel to you in a similar way to how the theft of the crown jewels from the Louvre felt to the French?

That was me, by the way, haha. As for James Bond: Well, I don't know. I haven't really thought about his English origins. The upcoming films will also involve great writers and great directors – and they'll make something fantastic out of them.

Joe Alwyn also consults with his mother about roles.

What is your process when you receive a script and try to understand the character you are supposed to play? Do you work on the role alone, or is there someone you discuss it with?

It varies from project to project. I start by developing my own thoughts, questions, ideas, and references. Communication with the director is also crucial. Sometimes, right from the beginning, it's a really nice exchange about ideas, about what we've heard and seen. Sometimes scenes are even rewritten. But there have also been times when I've asked friends or family members to read something and give me their opinion. You know, I really value my father's opinion. Sometimes I even ask my mother to read a script. They're simply wise, and I trust them.

Her mother is a psychotherapist. I imagine she's a good person to talk to when it comes to understanding characters .

That's why I enjoy talking to her about my work. She's spent her life listening to people and understanding why they are the way they are. She really has a knack for it. So, yes, that's very helpful.

Cinema can be understood as a school of empathy. A good film almost always explores how we should treat one another and how we can overcome ourselves. "Hamnet," for example, is a film about how people grapple with the terrible pain of loss through theater and writing.

I completely agree. It's probably easier and safer to market a film as a romance between two people, but that's not really the case here. It's more about a kind of metamorphosis. About how, in order to move forward, you have to grieve and process what has happened. Yes, "Hamnet" is about the power of art to enable change, processing, and healing.

If we were to look at the world we live in from Shakespeare's perspective, would it be more of a comedy or a tragedy?

Perhaps it's both. Perhaps it's the same thing! I mean, you have to find the comic in tragedy and vice versa. Life is both, and they're probably quite closely related.

Joe Alwyn's greatest gift is being able to preserve the joy of playing.

What would you describe as your biggest personal challenge of the past ten years?

Probably the ability to trust myself. In fact, I'm only playing this piece now to return to what it's really all about.

You need to explain that.

When the lead actor, Andrew Lincoln, and I meet in the evenings, he always says how lucky he is to be able to tell this story with this group of people again and again. That he gets to play around, make mistakes, and try things out. That was a really important lesson for me, because otherwise I sometimes would have forgotten that I was supposed to be having fun. If you get too preoccupied with how something will turn out, what other people will think, or where it will lead professionally, then you destroy the joy, which is really the whole point. That joy was the reason why I loved jumping into the dress-up box as a child. So I held onto the idea that we are truly lucky to be able to tell stories. I get to enjoy it and trust myself.

What is the greatest gift your career has ever given you?

These are some of the people she brought with her. The ability to retain a childlike quality and never stop playing. Yes, playing.

Watch the German trailer for “Hamnet” here:

“Hamnet”, in cinemas from January 15, 2026