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| Josh O’Connor: from The Durrells to the ‘Yorkshire Brokeback Mountain’ … and beyond | Josh O’Connor: from The Durrells to the ‘Yorkshire Brokeback Mountain’ … and beyond |
| (5 months later) | |
| Early starts, long hours, lots of sheep: the star of God’s Own Country tells of the hard graft behind the acclaimed film | |
| Vanessa Thorpe | |
| Sun 27 Aug 2017 00.05 BST | |
| Last modified on Tue 19 Dec 2017 20.52 GMT | |
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| For Josh O’Connor, known for his role in ITV’s The Durrells, it was the bright Mediterranean sun and the sparkling sea of the hit show’s Corfu setting that lit a path to fame. But this autumn the 27-year-old actor has swapped the heat and goats of the Greek island for the rain and sheep of the Yorkshire dales. | For Josh O’Connor, known for his role in ITV’s The Durrells, it was the bright Mediterranean sun and the sparkling sea of the hit show’s Corfu setting that lit a path to fame. But this autumn the 27-year-old actor has swapped the heat and goats of the Greek island for the rain and sheep of the Yorkshire dales. |
| O’Connor is the star of an unusual new romance, God’s Own Country, out in cinemas this week and already hailed by critics as among the best films of the year. The unexpected impact of the story, set on a financially imperilled Yorkshire farm, has left him with a choice to make. Will he stick with British independent cinema, or take up one of many offers from Hollywood? Perhaps even donning a superhero’s cape? | O’Connor is the star of an unusual new romance, God’s Own Country, out in cinemas this week and already hailed by critics as among the best films of the year. The unexpected impact of the story, set on a financially imperilled Yorkshire farm, has left him with a choice to make. Will he stick with British independent cinema, or take up one of many offers from Hollywood? Perhaps even donning a superhero’s cape? |
| “I do have a lot of scripts coming in from the States all the time now, including some action stuff,” he told the Observer. “Although I am not sure I am in enough shape for that yet. I must say, I wouldn’t turn down a superhero role, although there do seem to be a lot of British actors out there doing that.” | “I do have a lot of scripts coming in from the States all the time now, including some action stuff,” he told the Observer. “Although I am not sure I am in enough shape for that yet. I must say, I wouldn’t turn down a superhero role, although there do seem to be a lot of British actors out there doing that.” |
| O’Connor’s portrayal of Johnny, a depressed and promiscuous young gay farmer in God’s Own Country, has invited favourable comparisons with the 2006 western Brokeback Mountain, and earned him laurels from Empire magazine for the “bleakness that O’Connor powerfully articulates with slight dialogue and subtle physical cues”. The Telegraph’s critic Robbie Collin has praised the “extraordinary delicacy and deftness” of his performance. | O’Connor’s portrayal of Johnny, a depressed and promiscuous young gay farmer in God’s Own Country, has invited favourable comparisons with the 2006 western Brokeback Mountain, and earned him laurels from Empire magazine for the “bleakness that O’Connor powerfully articulates with slight dialogue and subtle physical cues”. The Telegraph’s critic Robbie Collin has praised the “extraordinary delicacy and deftness” of his performance. |
| “The last couple of weeks have made me see that working in America is actually possible,” O’Connor said this weekend. “People are interested, simply because we have had such a success story with this film.” | “The last couple of weeks have made me see that working in America is actually possible,” O’Connor said this weekend. “People are interested, simply because we have had such a success story with this film.” |
| He was signed up by an American agent after the film’s premiere at the Sundance festival in January, although his next project is another independent British production, a love story to be made later this year in Glasgow. | He was signed up by an American agent after the film’s premiere at the Sundance festival in January, although his next project is another independent British production, a love story to be made later this year in Glasgow. |
| Last week the actor, who lives in south London, was busy filming the third series of The Durrells during the day and then publicising God’s Own Country in the evenings. Long days, but nothing that compares to the hours he put in on the Yorkshire farm near Keighley where the film was shot. | Last week the actor, who lives in south London, was busy filming the third series of The Durrells during the day and then publicising God’s Own Country in the evenings. Long days, but nothing that compares to the hours he put in on the Yorkshire farm near Keighley where the film was shot. |
| After choosing his lead actor, first-time director Francis Lee sent O’Connor to work on the hillsides alongside a real farmer for a fortnight. “I’ve never worked as hard,” said O’Connor. “It was an intense time. We would get up at 6am, go up the hill to the sheep in the Land Rover, then come down later in the morning to fix a fence or a broken paddock. That was the time for all the odd jobs, really. And then we would maybe go to have a bacon butty in the farmhouse. | After choosing his lead actor, first-time director Francis Lee sent O’Connor to work on the hillsides alongside a real farmer for a fortnight. “I’ve never worked as hard,” said O’Connor. “It was an intense time. We would get up at 6am, go up the hill to the sheep in the Land Rover, then come down later in the morning to fix a fence or a broken paddock. That was the time for all the odd jobs, really. And then we would maybe go to have a bacon butty in the farmhouse. |
| “After that we often had to lift some bit of heavy equipment, or walk sheep along the roads. It is a way of life that is totally unforgiving and extreme, but it opened my eyes and gave me a new way of looking at the countryside. It put it all in perspective, because I grew up in Cheltenham and the farming around there is very different.” | “After that we often had to lift some bit of heavy equipment, or walk sheep along the roads. It is a way of life that is totally unforgiving and extreme, but it opened my eyes and gave me a new way of looking at the countryside. It put it all in perspective, because I grew up in Cheltenham and the farming around there is very different.” |
| The experience also established a friendship between O’Connor and the farmer, who he has since visited two or three times. | The experience also established a friendship between O’Connor and the farmer, who he has since visited two or three times. |
| “John remains a very good friend of mine, although we are from completely different worlds. His farm sits above Keighley, which is in a kind of bowl below, and he is there seven days a week. As an actor, I always have this thing where I can’t plan ahead for holidays or a break because I don’t know when I might be needed for the next job. But John has gone without a holiday for 13 years. He can’t leave the farm.” | “John remains a very good friend of mine, although we are from completely different worlds. His farm sits above Keighley, which is in a kind of bowl below, and he is there seven days a week. As an actor, I always have this thing where I can’t plan ahead for holidays or a break because I don’t know when I might be needed for the next job. But John has gone without a holiday for 13 years. He can’t leave the farm.” |
| And it was his new friend’s judgment on the finished film that O’Connor was particularly nervous to hear. “He came out of a screening and said, ‘that was all right, that,’ which, from him, is the best thing you could get.” | And it was his new friend’s judgment on the finished film that O’Connor was particularly nervous to hear. “He came out of a screening and said, ‘that was all right, that,’ which, from him, is the best thing you could get.” |
| Lee had wanted to make sure his lead actors, O’Connor and Romanian co-star Alec Secareanu, who plays immigrant worker Georghe, were both capable of doing all the farm work required by the screenplay. The result is convincing and often highly unappealing. As the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw commented: “We are far from James Herriot country.” | Lee had wanted to make sure his lead actors, O’Connor and Romanian co-star Alec Secareanu, who plays immigrant worker Georghe, were both capable of doing all the farm work required by the screenplay. The result is convincing and often highly unappealing. As the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw commented: “We are far from James Herriot country.” |
| For O’Connor, however, the strength of God’s Own Country lies in its refusal to show the tough life of the farmers as without hope. | For O’Connor, however, the strength of God’s Own Country lies in its refusal to show the tough life of the farmers as without hope. |
| “My character admittedly starts out leading a life of casual sex and booze, and he has a troubled relationship both with his father and with the landscape, but those things change.” | “My character admittedly starts out leading a life of casual sex and booze, and he has a troubled relationship both with his father and with the landscape, but those things change.” |
| The British countryside in general, the actor believes, is under-represented on film. “And what is particularly lacking are more hopeful representations of the north, or even just of the working classes. It doesn’t have to be grim.” | The British countryside in general, the actor believes, is under-represented on film. “And what is particularly lacking are more hopeful representations of the north, or even just of the working classes. It doesn’t have to be grim.” |
| O’Connor is also glad the film is being received as something of an artistic anti-Brexit statement. “All good art should be political, I think, and inevitably it all becomes political really, in one way or another. The fact this film is being talked about as the first of the pro-European films is interesting. It was never, as far as I know, the intention. It was just that it was all happening – the referendum campaign – as we were filming. So I feel that it is a happy coincidence.” | O’Connor is also glad the film is being received as something of an artistic anti-Brexit statement. “All good art should be political, I think, and inevitably it all becomes political really, in one way or another. The fact this film is being talked about as the first of the pro-European films is interesting. It was never, as far as I know, the intention. It was just that it was all happening – the referendum campaign – as we were filming. So I feel that it is a happy coincidence.” |
| Lee has revealed that when he first watched O’Connor’s audition tape he assumed the actor was from the north of England. “I quickly realised he has a rare gift – the ability to totally transform himself into the character he’s playing,” he said. | Lee has revealed that when he first watched O’Connor’s audition tape he assumed the actor was from the north of England. “I quickly realised he has a rare gift – the ability to totally transform himself into the character he’s playing,” he said. |
| O’Connor has also had supporting big-screen roles in The Riot Club, and alongside Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins, but hopes to return to the theatre one day. | O’Connor has also had supporting big-screen roles in The Riot Club, and alongside Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins, but hopes to return to the theatre one day. |
| For now he must instead return to the rigours of portraying The Durrells on their sunlit Greek isle. And he said that playing eldest son, and fledgling writer, Lawrence “Larry” Durrell over such a long period has given him an unexpected appreciation of his work. | For now he must instead return to the rigours of portraying The Durrells on their sunlit Greek isle. And he said that playing eldest son, and fledgling writer, Lawrence “Larry” Durrell over such a long period has given him an unexpected appreciation of his work. |
| “I have got really into his writing. He is now a rather unsung hero of British literature. Although a lot of his work is really not easy to read, I do love The Alexandria Quartet.” | “I have got really into his writing. He is now a rather unsung hero of British literature. Although a lot of his work is really not easy to read, I do love The Alexandria Quartet.” |
| SCREEN CV | SCREEN CV |
| Raised in Cheltenham, the middle son of an English teacher father and midwife mother, he graduated from Bristol Old Vic theatre school in 2011. | Raised in Cheltenham, the middle son of an English teacher father and midwife mother, he graduated from Bristol Old Vic theatre school in 2011. |
| Television | Television |
| Parts in BBC2’s Peaky Blinders and BBC1’s Ripper Street. In ITV’s comic drama The Durrells (2016-18) he plays Lawrence “Larry” Durrell (right), alongside Keeley Hawes. | Parts in BBC2’s Peaky Blinders and BBC1’s Ripper Street. In ITV’s comic drama The Durrells (2016-18) he plays Lawrence “Larry” Durrell (right), alongside Keeley Hawes. |
| Film | Film |
| The Riot Club (2014) Appeared with Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Max Irons, Freddie Fox and Matthew Beard as one of the privileged young dining club members in Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of Laura Wade’s play Posh. | The Riot Club (2014) Appeared with Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Max Irons, Freddie Fox and Matthew Beard as one of the privileged young dining club members in Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of Laura Wade’s play Posh. |
| Bridgend (2015) Starred opposite Hannah Murray in Danish director Jeppe Rønde’s account of the Welsh town’s high teen suicide rate. | Bridgend (2015) Starred opposite Hannah Murray in Danish director Jeppe Rønde’s account of the Welsh town’s high teen suicide rate. |
| Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) Played Donaghy in Stephen Frears’s story of the deluded American opera singer, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. | Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) Played Donaghy in Stephen Frears’s story of the deluded American opera singer, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. |
| God’s Own Country (2017) He plays Johnny Saxby, a gay farmer keeping the business afloat after his father, played by Ian Hart, suffers a stroke. | God’s Own Country (2017) He plays Johnny Saxby, a gay farmer keeping the business afloat after his father, played by Ian Hart, suffers a stroke. |
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