Theo James: ‘Is it cool? Or is it just that I'm becoming a middle-aged t**t?
Lotte Brundle meets the actor to discuss the new season of 'The Gentlemen' and his consuming passions.
You’d be hard pressed to find a contemporary television character more likely to be a loyal subscriber to Country Life than the 13th Duke of Halstead. Theo James’s aristocratic Barbour-clad, gun-toting lead in Guy Ritchie’s Netflix hit The Gentlemen is exactly who most people picture our average reader to be (drug-selling side hustle aside). He returns today in the show’s much anticipated second season.
Speaking from Los Angeles, from his ‘little place in Venice Beach’, it’s easy to imagine Theo’s lifestyle is not far removed from his incredibly wealthy on-screen persona, until he admits: ‘I am sitting in my car because there’s a playdate happening with the kids, as well as a cleaner and other stuff happening in my house, so I thought I’d just get out of there.’ Perhaps, not so glamorous after all — although still good for a speedy getaway.
This is a love he shares with his on-screen character. ‘Most things that I own, I can get rid of, except for cars,’ he says. ‘I've always been into cars.’ So much so that ‘car’ was the actor's first word. ‘I seem to keep hold of them, which is a really middle-aged thing. Being a 40-year-old, I'm like “Is it cool? Or is it just that I'm becoming a middle-aged t**t?”’ He doesn’t look like any of the middle-aged t**ts that I know, that’s for sure.
Theo in the new season of 'The Gentlemen'.
Fast cars aside (there are plenty of them in The Gentlemen), in this season the Duke shows more of a dark side, ‘which was always the plan,’ Theo says. ‘You need to, as much as it’s entertainment, push people’s expectations a bit.’ The actor thinks that the fascination with the British countryside on screen — one need look no further than Rivals, Clarkson’s Farm and the upcoming Pride and Prejudice film for further proof — is down to the fact that ‘it’s an emblem of hyper wealth colonial Britain at a time of its peak, which no longer exists’.
‘Now, it’s a form of class structure that is fascinating, because it’s so archaic in many ways. Also these houses are beautiful and the grounds incredible.’ Much of the action was filmed at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the Grade I-listed Palladian building which gave its name to the racket sport. It was also recorded in the Domesday Book. ‘Guy Ritchie likes, you know, “land porn”,’ says Theo. ‘The Gentlemen is a celebration of the quirks of Britain.’
It’s a far cry from another film of Theo’s that celebrates ‘the quirks of Britain’, and what I like to think of as his breakout role — The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) in which he played James, an obnoxious night club rep. However, it is a lesser cry from his most memorable turn as the rich but meddlesome Cameron Sullivan in the second season of The White Lotus (2022). Theo also starred in the dystopian Divergent film series.
Now that he has two children with the actress Ruth Kearney, he admits that he’s less keen on recurring projects. ‘Since early on in my career, when I was kind of trapped into coming back for multiple films, I’ve always been super allergic to returning to something because of that experience, but it was much more pleasant this time.’ Something about The Gentlemen has kept him coming back for more. He is very fond of working with the cast and crew. So, will there be a third season? ‘I hope, if there is more, that we will be able to evolve it even further.’
Your aesthetic hero
My touchpoint for dress was always my grandfather. He was Greek from Athens and a highly cultured man. He was a doctor, but not someone who would tell anyone about it. He loved classical music, painting. He was a very classy man. My touchpoint is a picture of him on the streets of Athens when he was 22. He has a thick moustache, impeccable hair and he’s wearing a blue double-breasted suit with small sunglasses.
An exhibition that has really impressed you
My wife and I got married in Tuscany and our honeymoon was spent driving back to London. We took our time and stopped on the way, and when we were in Paris for a couple of nights there was a tiny exhibition of some of Picasso's lesser known works. I have always loved him and was super taken with that.
'Jacqueline' by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1957.
The music that you work to
I don’t work to music. I love music, but I find I listen to lyrics too much and it’s distracting for me.
Your favourite painting
It’s like saying ‘Do you have a favourite album?’, I think it’s impossible to say: ‘Do you have a favourite painting?’ I like Georgia O’Keeffe’s stuff, we’ve got lots of her books around the house, but in terms of a favourite singular painting I couldn’t say.
Georgia O'Keeffe was a pioneering American artist known as the 'Mother of American Modernism'.
The last podcast you listened to
I listened to the latest episode of The Rest is Politics and I have been listening to the audiobook of London Falling, by Patrick Radden Keefe.
The last thing of note that you bought for yourself
I remember what I bought yesterday, which was a small toy dog for one of my kids. In terms of buying something for myself, I’m stumped.
The person that would play you in a film of your life
F**k knows, and I apologise in advance.
A possession you’d never sell
I have a signed picture of Jimi Hendrix, playing in 1969. I got it from a friend when I was in my twenties, someone classier and who had more dough than I did, and it has been with me since I was 19 and travels to every different place. I wouldn't get rid of it because, although I don't think it's worth that much, it was the first possession that I had that I felt had not only monetary value, but also staying power.
What you’d take with you to a desert island
A pair of pliers.
A book that has inspired you
Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I loved travelling as a young man, and I still do. But you know, you have different expectations in life about being able to get off the grid. But both of those books, in different ways, are about a singular journey into complicated times.
The Old Man and the Sea is one about a man against the elements, and I love the ocean. Heart of Darkness is about a descent into chaos. I've always been fascinated by the Congo, and hopefully I might go next year. Obviously, that book is also about the problems of colonialism and pillaging of other cultures. Given that we’re still in a world which is very much dominated by a different form of colonialism — be it oligarchical or American, European, Chinese or Russian — it’s still very much a part of our culture, so that’s a fitting choice.
The thing that gets you up in the morning
My children.
The items you collect
I have some old cars, and they’re the bane of my life because they’re constantly breaking down, but I am addicted to the smell of them, the way they look and the memory of the past they came from.
A hotel you could go back and back to
Hotel Il Pellicano, in Tuscany.
The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten
I opened two restaurants, one is in Hackney, Ornella, and the chef makes a burro e parmigiano — tagliatelle with butter and parmesan — which is quite simple but that’s one of the best dishes I have. Even though it’s, you know, my restaurant, it’s simple but beautifully made.
The best present you’ve ever received
My brothers, for one Christmas, gave me the impression that they were going to get me a remote control car and they wrapped up a bunch of rocks. When I opened it they were laughing hysterically, so that’s probably the best Christmas present I’ve ever got.
You can stream season two of ‘The Gentlemen’ on Netflix now.
