Josh O’Connor skilled the splendor of Cannes in 2023, when he was there with Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. This 12 months, he’s again with two films in competition for the Palme d’Or: Kelly Reichardt’s artwork heist image The Mastermind and Oliver Hermanus’ The Historical past of Sound, through which O’Connor stars with Paul Mescal.
Whereas en path to the New York set of the untitled Steven Spielberg/Amblin/Common movie the place he’s been solid alongside Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Emily Blunt, O’Connor stated of Spielberg, “He’s nice. He’s the dream, one of the best on the planet,” however he admits being on set makes him miss residence and tending to his fig timber and greens.
DEADLINE: What can you say concerning the Spielberg film?
JOSH O’CONNOR: I’ll inform you what I’ll say. It’s like old-school Spielberg. I feel folks might be excited.
DEADLINE: If you say old-school Spielberg, what does that imply?
O’CONNOR: Shut Encounters, E.T.; that world.
DEADLINE: And do you play an American?
O’CONNOR: I suppose I’m in my American interval in the mean time.
DEADLINE: Which brings us neatly to Reichardt’s The Mastermind.
O’CONNOR: It’s the Nineteen Seventies. The Vietnam Warfare was happening. Kelly’s actually considered one of my favourite filmmakers on the planet. Really. There’s a handful of administrators that I’ve dreamt of working with, and Kelly’s considered one of them. So, I’ve had one of the best time working along with her. It’s within the conventional Kelly trend. It’s trying on the world by way of the those who fall between the cracks and never essentially the folks you’d anticipate. Typically, she’s artists and stuff like that, and it’s acquired that vibe. It’s virtually like she’s trying on the Vietnam Warfare, however averting her eyes.
Josh O’Connor in ‘The Mastermind’
2025 Mastermind Film Inc
DEADLINE: How so?
O’CONNOR: It’s within the background, actually. It’s about this man James Mooney who’s desperately attempting to assist his household and make a reputation for himself. He’s kind of a failed artist. He works as a carpenter.
DEADLINE: Reichardt has spoken prior to now about characters situated within the perimeters of society. Is James in that class, do you suppose?
O’CONNOR: I suppose in my head, once I hear “perimeters of society,” I’d usually decide somebody ostracized in a roundabout way or left behind. And in some ways, this character isn’t that. He’s middle-class, he’s from a superbly good household, however he’s within the outdoors of society insofar as he lives fairly a plain life, an unfulfilled life. That’s what’s pulling him to make a reputation for himself. It’s virtually extra tragic in that he simply feels forgotten. He simply seems like a daily Joe. And I suppose Kelly’s asking, “What’s worse than being common Joe?” For somebody who has a giant ego, that’s not nice.
DEADLINE: Does he have a household to lift?
O’CONNOR: He’s acquired two children, two boys and a spouse. Alana Haim performs my spouse in it.
DEADLINE: The place does Reichardt set the story?
O’CONNOR: Outdoors of Boston, within the Cambridge space, however we shot in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is architecturally very fascinating for the interval we’re in, the ’70s. Once more, it’s that middletown, quiet suburbia.
DEADLINE: He sounds just like the forgotten white man who in modern phrases might need voted for Donald Trump.
O’CONNOR: When you’re trying in the mean time in time, that’s the relevance. An fascinating angle on it, is that taking pictures someplace like Ohio because the election was simply happening was a really fascinating place to be, and that’s the place J.D. Vance is from.
I feel, politically, that interval within the ’70s for America and the Vietnam Warfare was actually fascinating. Kelly is diverting her eyes to the politics at all times in each movie. It’s there within the background and he or she is speaking about it, however she isn’t. It’s like, she’s by no means crude about it. It’s not apparent like in so many scripts I learn, and in lots of films, and I perceive why. They’re films which are constructed to, “How can we get these items awards?” [With Kelly] a tear could be welling up in a scene and he or she’d be like, “Lower! What are you doing? We don’t cry in these films.” She’s the antithesis of that. She needs to maintain it actual. She doesn’t need to get too earnest about issues. There’s a lightness to it. There’s comedy, however there’s depth.
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DEADLINE: Yeah, I feel Reichardt would slightly be educating movie class at Bard Faculty than chasing awards, proper?
O’CONNOR: That’s not the first objective. She’s not in search of that.
DEADLINE: So is James the chief of the artwork thieves? I see John Magaro, a Reichardt common, can be in it. Is he within the gang of thieves?
O’CONNOR: The vast majority of the movie is my character on the run. We come throughout John Magaro, who’s an outdated pal of mine from artwork faculty, and there are all kinds of characters I come into play with. Todd Haynes had this nice quote about Kelly, the place he stated, “The factor a couple of Kelly Reichardt film, is it’s like a highway film that by no means fairly hits the highway.” They by no means fairly get that pleasure.
DEADLINE: And how much paintings does he steal? Is it modern? Are they Previous Masters…?
O’CONNOR: It’s somebody who’s the right reply for this, as a result of it’s somebody who isn’t headline-grabbing in any respect. It’s somebody price a bit of cash, however not fairly price what they need to be price. It’s Arthur Dove [a pioneer of American abstraction]. His paintings is form of surreal, but it surely’s additionally, effectively, for my part, not that enticing. It’s humorous as a result of he’s sensible and he would promote for cash, but it surely’s not stealing a Picasso. Even in his grand thievery it’s kind of underwhelming.
DEADLINE: Reichardt’s father was a criminal offense scene investigator—do you suppose his career influenced the movie in a roundabout way?
O’CONNOR: I keep in mind pondering, “Oh, that is smart to me,” only for somebody who’s led by story to have grown up in that setting. However as soon as we set to work it wasn’t talked about an terrible lot. So, I feel it’s within the background. These aren’t tales that come from her father or something like that, however I think about it should’ve had an affect on her.
DEADLINE: Some have commented, “This doesn’t sound like a Kelly Reichardt film.”
O’CONNOR: I’d say as a Kelly fan, I watched this film, and you may see Kelly Reichardt in it. You’ll be able to see the entire humor. You’ll be able to see the messaging that’s not overt or crude. I feel folks received’t be dissatisfied.
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DEADLINE: Reichardt as soon as commented that what actors do “stays very mysterious to me. I attempt to keep out of their method. We’re collectively in the hunt for a personality.”
O’CONNOR: That basically resonates with me. I feel that’s so true. Though, simply to counter it a bit bit, I’d say, the factor is that to begin with, she loves that thriller. She loves that she doesn’t perceive what we do, however I feel she understands greater than she makes out. I feel really she has a really clear thought of who the characters are. However, like all sensible director, and I’ve been lucky sufficient to witness this, there’s this actual present you may have as a director the place you say you may have an thought. And slightly than go to the actor and say, “That is my thought, OK? Do it.” You simply discover a method of permitting the actor to find the identical thought you at all times had within the first place, as a result of we then really feel like now we have an possession over it. And that’s to not downplay what actors do in any method. She’s labored with among the greats, like Michelle [Williams]. It’s simply that I feel Kelly undervalues her expertise and he or she does have these concepts. What you’re doing is becoming right into a Kelly Reichardt imaginative and prescient, and it’s a negotiation, after all, however she is one way or the other imprinting these concepts in us. That’s my perception anyway.
DEADLINE: How does she infuse her movies with the disparate stripes of her life: educating, what she views in artwork galleries, her longtime friendship with Todd Haynes?
O’CONNOR: Initially, she’s an artwork lover. She loves movie so very a lot. She’s a kind of filmmakers that has an encyclopedic information of flicks, significantly outdated films. We’ve usually forgotten with Kelly, she does educate at Bard. She’s a terrific trainer. Once more, that’s the same factor to being a terrific director. She labored with Todd Haynes at first. She’s labored in movie for years in several roles and capacities. She went to artwork faculty, she’s acquired all that historical past there, and it simply comes by way of in all of her films. It’s simply Kelly. It’s so clearly her.
DEADLINE: Did she display any outdated films for you?
O’CONNOR: She despatched me some documentary footage from the ’70s. I can’t keep in mind the title of it, however that was extra simply to get this concept of how households are collectively. There’s a few scenes [in The Mastermind] the place it’s Invoice Camp, Hope Davis, me, Alana, and all of us sat across the desk.
DEADLINE: The place is Vietnam within the film?
O’CONNOR: It’s form of an undercurrent of the film. We don’t go to Vietnam. We don’t ever actually speak about it. There is likely to be a short second over the dinner desk the place Invoice Camp feedback on it. And the rationale it’s an undercurrent is like, here’s a man of age who isn’t at struggle.
DEADLINE: You’re additionally in The Historical past of Sound, which is predicated on a 2018 brief story by Ben Shattuck. You play David and Paul Mescal is Lionel, they usually meet in a Cambridge, Massachusetts bar in 1916 and bond over regional people songs.
O’CONNOR: Then they go on this journey. The movie follows Lionel who has this synesthesia, the place he can see coloration and see and really feel feelings when he listens to music. He additionally has an unbelievable singing voice. And David is like an archivist and has a fascination with gathering the outdated people songs of America. After which they go on this very stunning journey collectively. And I’m going lacking for a very long time.
DEADLINE: David performs the piano. Are you able to play it?
O’CONNOR: I couldn’t play the piano till I did this film. I nonetheless can’t, however I can play it higher than I might. I took a couple of classes and I simply discovered ultimately. I’d wish to suppose the reality is I didn’t have an awfully very long time to prep for this film, and I jumped in between tasks. He’s a really stunning character that’s so significant to me and to the film, after all, however I didn’t have an terrible lot of time, so I simply discovered these songs on piano.
Josh O’Connor with Daniel Craig in ‘Wake Up Useless Man: A Knives Out Thriller’
John Wilson/Netflix
DEADLINE: The unique brief story is about time and reminiscence and the little issues that matter over time.
O’CONNOR: I feel it’s that factor of what the movie does extremely effectively is it performs into that feeling of nostalgia and remorse and loss. I got here in they usually shot all of my stuff, which is usually this touring by way of America which may be very stunning. In order that was actually simply pretty. We did that for a few weeks, then I left. Then I used to be on Challengers, after which I used to be taking pictures Knives Out [Wake Up Dead Man]. So it was all form of busy and I felt like that film was over. However after all that they had the entire remainder of the film to shoot. And once I noticed it, seeing what they’d carried out, what they created with out me was simply … I used to be so happy with them. It was such a pleasant feeling. However what’s so stunning about it’s this sense of tune and of music. If you hearken to a bit of music and it transports you to a sure place or a time, and when you shut your eyes, you may really feel like you’re really there.
DEADLINE: Shattuck writes concerning the songs they acquire being stuffed with tales of individuals’s lives. Did you are feeling that connection to group?
O’CONNOR: David is a connector, he pulls folks collectively, however his final goal is to gather these songs. Whereas Lionel, Paul’s character, begins to see that what they’re getting isn’t simply these songs. As you stated, it’s group.
DEADLINE: Did you and Paul Mescal go on any pub crawls in New England? After which, after all, you labored on Rian Johnson’s newest Knives Out with James Bond [Daniel Craig] and Andrew Scott in precise England.
O’CONNOR: I want we did. I’m so boring these days. I’m in mattress by 9 o’clock. I don’t know what’s occurred to me. However no, I’m afraid I didn’t. However we had a good time. And on Knives Out, James Bond was in it, Andrew Scott, a few of my closest buddies. It was pretty. Despite the fact that I’m once more enjoying an American, we shot it in London. So, it was the primary time I may very well be residence for ages.
DEADLINE: Photographs of you in clerical garb within the Knives Out film jogged my memory of Mr. Elton, the village vicar you performed within the Jane Austen movie Emma.
O’CONNOR: I stated to Rian Johnson, “My favourite function I feel I’ve ever performed was Mr. Elton.” I keep in mind once I noticed that film, pondering, there’s all these sensible actors, Johnny Flynn, Anya [Taylor-Joy], Mia Goth, Callum Turner, all these guys are doing one film after which me and Tanya Reynolds are doing, I don’t know what we’re doing, but it surely’s not the identical film. However I had the time of my life. Sadly, I’m not allowed to go fairly so excessive on this film.
Josh O’Connor as Mr. Elton in ‘Emma’
Focus Options/Everett Assortment
DEADLINE: Having starred in Guadagnino’s Challengers, are you continue to concerned in his display model of Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s novel Separate Rooms?
O’CONNOR: Sadly not. Luca’s working on a regular basis. He’s such a busy bee and rightly so. We’re continuously speaking. He could effectively do it, however sadly it received’t be with me.
DEADLINE: Have you learnt what you’re doing subsequent?
O’CONNOR: I’m taking pictures this summer season in Europe with an American director, extra of which I can’t say. However then I’m going to go and do another stuff for a bit bit. I like my ceramics, I like gardening. My poor backyard is struggling once I go away. And I’m undoubtedly trying ahead to a while to simply strive another issues and possibly get again on stage. It’s been too lengthy. There are conversations round varied locations. Perhaps not solely in London as effectively.
DEADLINE: Is the concept to work with various administrators who aren’t right here within the UK? In fact, UK actors have at all times flown the coop and returned residence later.
O’CONNOR: I feel there’s a component of that. Like Alice Rohrwacher’s who for me is … the filmmakers I at all times beloved have been Pasolini, Rossellini, Bellocchio, to me she’s that. Luca’s a hero of mine. However considered one of my first movies, with Francis Lee, was God’s Personal Nation within the UK. I feel he’s considered one of our greats. And he’s extraordinarily considerate. And due to that, his movies come once they come. You need to wait. However I’ll at all times work with him once more. I feel we’ve additionally suffered a bit bit within the British movie business with arts funding being reduce. And I feel that’s been troublesome for locations just like the BFI for supporting younger filmmakers. I don’t suppose that’s the rationale persons are doing extra movies in America. I feel that’s simply typically what occurs. However I’m at all times looking out to be at residence.
DEADLINE: How did Spielberg come-a-calling?
O’CONNOR: About this time final 12 months, I used to be in New York and on the night time of the Met Gala, I acquired a textual content from my agent saying, “Are you able to meet Steven Spielberg tomorrow for espresso?” And I used to be like, “Sure!” And I went to his workplace, Amblin. He advised me he didn’t have a script, however he advised me the story of the film and he stated, “Would you love to do it?” And I kind of feigned, “Let me give it some thought.” However clearly…
DEADLINE: Good joke.
O’CONNOR: It was form of easy. He’s simply essentially the most particular particular person. He appears to have essentially the most unbelievable quantity of vitality I’ve ever witnessed. He comes as much as you, he whispers in your ear like an excited little one about an thought, a thought, and it’s really inspiring.
DEADLINE: Who’re the solid members you’re employed with essentially the most within the Spielberg?
O’CONNOR: Emily Blunt and myself are form of following that monitor.
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DEADLINE: Are the pair of you associated in a roundabout way?
O’CONNOR: Not directly.
DEADLINE: Husband and spouse? Siblings…?
O’CONNOR: I’ve acquired to sprint, I’ve acquired to go to make-up.
DEADLINE: Oh, you’re not an alien, are you?
O’CONNOR: Perhaps. [laughing] I wouldn’t want any make-up for that!
DEADLINE: You co-wrote the movie Bonus Observe. Are there additional ideas about screenplays and maybe directing, as a result of years in the past you advised me you’d wish to direct?
O’CONNOR: Hopefully. Perhaps one thing down the road. I observed that Harris Dickinson’s acquired his film [Urchin] at Cannes, which I’m delighted about. I feel he’s actually impressed me really go and possibly strive it. You understand what it’s like, it will get busy, however it’s undoubtedly a dream of mine.
