Aaron Taylor-Johnson on Nosferatu, being a leading man, and Jameson whiskey
The British actor discusses his roster of big films coming, and why he enjoys supporting roles as much as being the main character
As our interview begins, Aaron Taylor Johnson is gearing himself up to head to the Somerset countryside. It’s the place where he finds peace, which having had one of the most hectic schedules on the acting calendar in 2024, he’s in need of. “After this call I’m heading off for the weekend, we’ve been press junketing all day for Nosferatu, and it’s super exciting, but I’m someone that fully enjoys nature," he says over the phone from his home in London. "I feel at home there, we have a farm, and that’s where I’m going to get some peace.”
As well as a lead role in Kraven the Hunter, out mid December, and filming for Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, 34-year old Taylor-Johnson stars in one of the biggest films of the year, Nosferatu, which is slated for a Christmas Day release. Robert Eggers’ remake of the 1922 Gothic supernatural horror film of the same name, like its predecessor it is also based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and is just as beautifully toe-curling. In the melodrama Taylor-Johnson plays one of the vampire-hunters Friedrich Harding (the other being Willem Dafoe), in an ensemble cast comprising Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, Bill Skarsgård and Lily Rose Depp. “It was an experience shooting it,” Taylor-Johnson, who is now on a full blown press tour for the movie, with London’s premiere taking place last night, tells me before the serious promotion kicks off. His enthusiasm for the film, and not just because he’s being paid, is all too clear. “It’s an absolutely new genre for me - I’m not even a horror movie guy,” he shares. “But I see Robert Eggers defining his own category. It's super complex and it's elevated horror. It’s arty and the drama is so poignant. It’s visually beautiful, gothic romanticism, with the elements of a psychological thriller thrown in. There’s a theme of love throughout. Nosferatu is this big metaphor for a relationship and a marriage, and I love it.”
The closest High Wycombe-born Taylor-Johnson has come to the genre would be his role in 2012 period blockbuster Anna Karenina, in which he played the central love interest Count Vronsky, alongside Keira Knightley. “It’s great to traverse different genres, across studio movies and independent productions,” Taylor-Johnson says. “I don’t want to be stuck in a certain genre. It allows me to grow and try new things.” Take a look at the films that have made the young actor a household name - Kick Ass, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Bullet Train, The Fall Guy, Nocturnal Animals - and you can see that there’s range. “It’s not intentional for an audience perspective so I don’t get pigeonholed as an actor, but I am someone who is constantly searching and curious and exploring and happy to experiment,” he explains. “It’s more for me. I don’t change things up so I don’t get typecast, but I would genuinely just get bored if I just played the same role or person.”
This is something that Taylor-Johnson makes clear, and he protests that he wants his entire career to be a blossoming string of unexpected and diverse roles. I tell him that the week prior I’ve seen an article proposing that he is Britain’s “new leading man”. He simply laughs. “I don’t position myself as a leading man, as I think that’s limiting. I don’t see myself in any way as just the leading man. As flattering as that is, I enjoy the versatility of doing it how I do things”.
Notably he reminds me that in Nosferatu Nicholas Hoult is the leading man, Lily Rose is the centre and Bill Skarsgard is the antagonist role and title lead. “There is no ego where I feel a need or desire to fill those shoes, and I think it just limits you to do so.” He continues, explaining that with supporting roles there is so much diversity and that, actually, these are often the more fulfilling positions in a film. “Supporting roles are character roles, which are layered. You get a lot out of it. Scene partners for instance. My role in Bullet Train is a great example of that - Brian Tyree Henry was my scene partner and we could both really enjoy the space, but also push those scenes into a world that was fun. There was confrontation between our two characters and so there was a lot of banter and you got comedy, drama, and it was all improv really. I couldn’t do that without him.”
His appetite for diversity is what has made this year so fulfilling. With Nosferatu offering one of his most compelling roles yet, and Kraven keeping his action hero side in check, he sees working with the aforementioned British filmmaker Danny Boyle as a highlight. “The energy, the enthusiasm, and the charisma of this filmmaker is infectious,” he says excitedly, reflecting on the upcoming 28 Years Later, a follow-up to 28 Days Later. “He’s childlike, and has this bubbling energy that, oh my god, just reignited the love and passion for acting in me. Not that I don’t have it innate in me, but the excitement and the beauty of imagination. I think that movie allows for all of that because it’s got such an incredible set up.”
That appetite is also what led him to take on a slightly more unusual role, with the limited time he had left on his busy schedule. He stars in Jameson’s new ad campaign, The Greatest Story Almost Told, for its Jameson Black Barrel, which is a first for him, but not unknown territory - earlier this year he was unveiled as the face of Armani’s Aqua Di Gio fragrance. It’s another example of him not being siloed to fit into a box. “It has to feel right, but it’s fun doing this sort of thing,” he says. “I worked with film director David McKenzie again for the Armani campaign, who we did Outlaw King with, and I feel privileged as this established filmmaker asked me to come back and work with him. It’s a blessing!”
The campaign had Taylor-Johnson head to the Jameson distillery in Ireland, where he saw first hand the process (and was lensed for the ads by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, the man who directed Poor Things and The Favourite) how the world-famous whiskey is made. “The pride everyone has of going to work there is infectious,” he says. “I just admired it all. From the master blender to the other workers, everyone knew everyone on a first name basis and to feel that intimacy felt genuine and true. I love the craft and the art of it, and it’s similar to how I approach my own work.”
Taylor-Johnson, considering the year he’s had, should be taking an elongated break. Alas, he’s already thinking about next year, and it’s evident that a fire has been ignited in him in the wake of Nosferatu. He’s eyeing up his next role, despite already having a roster of films - 28 Years Later among them - set for release in 2025. “I’m a sucker for period and I do miss that,” he says, explaining that he was recently talking to director Joe Wright, the man behind Anna Kerenina, Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, about getting something in the works. “He’s a real master of those British period romance movies. Period movies take you into a world of Romanticism, where emotions were pushed deep down and not worn on sleeves. And so there’s moments of dialogue, poetry and touch that are so sensual. It allows you to think more creatively and the beauty of that comes in playing it out.”
As we wrap our chat, Taylor-Johnson says that Shakespearean roles in particular “hold a lot of depth and richness.” In 1999, he performed onstage in a London production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, where he played the son of Macduff. But he was only eight years old, and so a turn in an adaptation of a Shakespearean play would be a first in his developed career. “Nothing I can say now,” he laughs, and with that he heads off to the countryside before another busy month of press calls, premieres and junkets.
To see more, head to jamesonwhiskey.com
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