The appointment is in a bar of Soho, in the centre of London. I’ve just sat at a table when I see blond man whizzing in, dressed in white gym shorts and t-shirt. He crosses the hall and disappears into the gents. I wonder: was he the man I’m waiting for? Less than five minutes later, he comes out. It was him. James Norton. Only, now he’s wearing a black t-shirt and green trousers.
“Here I am,” he says. “I apologise, I’m always cycling around. I was soaked in sweat.”
His forehead and hair are wet. “I’m always doing this. I wash and change,” he says, rolling his gym clothes and pushing them into his rucksack. That’s the character. He’s a bomb of adrenaline, liveliness and likeability. He is no superstar. 33 years, actor, sex symbol, idol and rising star, launched by War and Peace (as prince Andrei) and very popular after McMafia, a British TV series where he plays Alex Godman, the son of a Russian oligarch with ties to the mob.
Aren’t you afraid of cycling through London? One death every month, one wounded every week.
“I know, but I’m the kind of cyclist who’s always in the middle of the road and makes the truckers angry, because they are forced to follow me. But they see me, at least.”
He takes the white shirt out of the sack and wipes his forehead with it. We order: coffee for me, orange juice for him. “After physical activity, I have to increase my blood sugars. I’m diabetic.”
You must have guessed what the first question will be…
“Oh no”
Yes, obviously.
(You can’t avoid it. During the last two years, there hasn’t been a single interview where he wasn’t asked if he’s going to be the next James Bond.)
Are you going to be the next 007?
“As I’ve already said during the last two years interviews (he laughs) these are only speculations. But I take all this as a big compliment, because Bond is such an iconic character and having my name connected with him is a wonderful thing. But this said, I think Daniel Craig is doing a great work and I’d personally wait for him to make other two or three film.”
Is another McMafia series coming?
“We are working on it. And I’m very happy because they have involved me in the writing.”
Is Alex, your character, becoming even more evil?
“We don’t know… we are trying to push him to his extreme. I like to understand how far he can go.”
How did you happen to become an actor?
“I studied theology at Cambridge. Before, I had studied at a college managed by Benedictine monks, so I was interested in investigating theology further, from a philosophical point of view, not as a believer. After the university, I studied acting here in London. But I always wanted to act, since I was six or seven. I forced my friends and cousins to perform with me, or to watch me perform. In every Christmas play I was always St Joseph. Maybe I was attention-seeking. Actors have a kind of bulimia for the world. They want to understand everything, they want to enter the life of all their characters. I’m like this with food, too.”
What do you mean?
“When I go to a restaurant, I want to try everything. I’m curious. Even when I cook, I like to experiment. That’s why I love London. This is the city of multiculturalism and inclusion. Different people, food, art, culture, a fusion of everything. Now I’m sad and worried.”
Because of Brexit?
“Certainly. It’s a terrible thing. I don’t know how all this is going to end. But the worst thing for people of my generation is that for my parents being optimists meant to hope in a better future. For us, it’s hoping that everything stays as it is and doesn’t get worse.”
You have a patch around your finger: did you hurt yourself?
“I’ve cut myself while cleaning a penknife. I spent two weeks in Ireland. My girlfriend (actress Imogen Poots) was shooting a film in Dublin, and I was camping in the wood. We met during the weekend.”
In your tent?
“No,” he laughs, “I went to her place. But I love open air and wilderness. I was raised in the country, I like to walk, to swim in rivers and lakes. I’m very active.”
Are you a single or a family man?
“A family man, absolutely. I like to think about home, the nest. I want to live in the country, with a dog, like my parents who are happy 60-year-old, they are my model. I have a sister and sixteeen cousins, we are all very close. I missed my grandmother’s 90th birthday because of my work engagements, and I was very sorry.”
When you have a family, will you bring them camping?
“The children and the dog in a tent, my wife and I at the hotel.”
You bought a house in Peckham, a London district which a few decades ago was known as one of the worst neighborhood in Europe.
“I don’t like fake things. I love the real London, even though it’s becoming more and more gentrified. The fact that a white actor like me lives in Peckham, means that it’s changing. But I hope it won’t be spoiled too much, with all its little shops and local realities.”
He goes through his rucksack and takes out a copy of Little Women.
“I have to go to a dress rehearsal for Little Women and to meet the director and writer Greta Gerwig. Big cast with Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet.”
Which role will you play?
“Just wait and you’ll find out.”
