Telegraph Sept 2019

 

James Norton on social media oversharing, eco-hypocrisy and 'relief' for men after #MeToo

By Sarah Royce-Greensill
29 September 2019

James Norton in Cannes
CREDIT: PHOTOGRAPHS BY RAPHAËL GIANELLI-MERIANO. STYLING BY SOPHIE WARBURTON

After spending a day in James Norton's company, I'm compelled to Google his star sign. It's Cancer, a water sign, which doesn't surprise me. The 34-year-old British actor is eager to plunge into water at any opportunity. 

He arrives on set during the Cannes Film Festival, only slightly late and just a touch bleary-eyed after an early-hours finish the night before, and reveals that he's already been for a dip in the sea to clear his head. He proceeds to drench himself with water as he's photographed glugging from a glass bottle, and is happy to be submerged in the Med again - shirt, trousers, watch and all - during our shoot. 

Later, he reveals that he's a proponent of cold-water therapy as a cure for depression and anxiety. "I have a very fast inner tempo, a kind of mania, so I'll get up and go for a run or a swim to relax," he says. 

The running is new - he was spurred on by a marathon-running friend who'd become "obsessed and a bit smug". 

"Quietly I was jealous, so I started going for some runs secretly to see what it was all about and now I'm loving it." He asks me whether his average pace per kilometre is any good - it is. "Oh no, I'm already that smug prick!"

He practises yoga, too, his face turning gradually red as our photographer snaps him in a headstand on the beach. The crowd of onlookers on the Croisette are impressed. Norton seems eager to please - he bounds along the beach like a Labrador with cheekbones, and has an enthusiasm for getting his hands dirty that stems from a childhood spent largely outdoors.
Born in London to Lavinia and Hugh Norton, both teachers, he was brought up in Malton, North Yorkshire, and went to Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic boarding school nearby. He graduated with a first in Theology from the University of Cambridge in 2007 before attending Rada. So far, so posh Brit actor.
But for someone with a happy, privileged upbringing, he's as spine-chillingly convincing as the working-class psychopath, rapist and murderer Tommy Lee Royce in crime drama Happy Valley as he was as world-weary, enigmatic Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in the BBC's War & Peace.
From Grantchester to McMafia via Black Mirror and Lady Chatterley's Lover, Norton's roles have varied wildly - a deliberate move on his part.

"Some people feel reassured by being typecast, but I can and want to go on that journey," he says. "One of the main reasons I do this job is that I never stop learning, and if you play everything in a similar tone, then that stops."
Recently, he's been immersed in the world of Stephen Ward, the society osteopath at the centre of the Profumo affair, for the forthcoming series The Trial of Christine Keeler. He has also finished filming Greta Gerwig's version of Little Women, in which he plays love-struck tutor John Brooke.
After his tuxedo-wearing stint as Alex Godman, the tightly wound investment-banker son of an exiled Russian mafia boss in McMafia, the odds on him being named as the next Bond were slashed to 2/1 (he still tops the list). Questions about that role are off-limits, although I expect this is because of boredom on Norton's part rather than the risk of him letting any 007 secrets slip. "I haven't had an interview in two years where I wasn't asked about Bond," he told GQ in 2017.

James Norton in Happy Valley 

Still, those shots of him emerging from the sea draw inevitable comparisons to a certain Daniel Craig scene.
"Actually, I was thinking more of Mr Darcy in the white shirt," he says, laughing, adding that he told Colin Firth, who is having lunch at the hotel rooftop where our interview is taking place, that he's responsible for the dry-cleaning bill.
Both Norton and Firth are in Cannes as guests of Chopard, the Swiss house that has partnered with Livia Firth's sustainability consultancy Eco-Age to manufacture its jewellery and watches in a more environmentally responsible way. It's Norton's second year as a friend of the brand.
"Chopard's watches are a pleasure to wear, but above that it's a brand with an ethical centre, which is something I always gravitate towards," he says. He wears vegan Veja trainers, he cycles, walks and recycles as much as possible, and he has switched to a renewable energy supplier. "We all live with a certain level of hypocrisy - for every worthy choice we offset it with something guilty, but I do my best."

In February, Norton tweeted a video in support of the Climate Coalition, demanding parliamentary action on climate change. He's not afraid to use social media to publicise his political views - he also shared that he'd signed the petition to revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU, and his Twitter feed makes clear his anti-Brexit stance.
Does he face any backlash for airing his opinions? "Whenever you say anything with a political bearing, you get told to get back in your box because you're an actor not a politician, but why shouldn't I have an opinion? We live in incredibly confusing, complicated, politically charged times, and like everyone else I have views that I want to express."
He acknowledges the power of social media when it comes to promoting his work with JDRF, a type 1 diabetes charity. Norton was diagnosed with the condition in 2010.
"Every time I share something related to being type 1, I get messages from young diabetics or their parents saying thank you so much - it's great to see someone doing what they love, being active, having a chocolate bar if they want, because when you're diagnosed as a kid it's terrifying, it feels like your life is over."

It's not all charity and politics. Norton's 93,000 Instagram followers get an insight into his personal life, too: from partying at Glastonbury to running naked towards the sea in Ireland, alongside arty black-and-white shots of his girlfriend, 30-year-old British actor Imogen Poots.
"I'm still working out where I stand on social media," he says. "Mackenzie Crook once told me that your responsibility as an actor is to take the audience away from yourself, so anonymity is key. Which goes against having a very active social-media presence. So I try to limit the amount of my life that I share directly, but at the same time I don't want to be a total Luddite. It can be a wonderful tool when it's used in the right way."

With Emma Watson in Little Women 

Like most of us, he has a moment of panic when pressing 'share'. "Sometimes you overshare and get neurotic about it afterwards: that moment of, 'Oooh, was that OK?' I have probably deleted things. But my Instagram feed is pretty safe and boring - whenever people ask if I have it, I say yes, but don't follow me!"
One photo that didn't make it to his grid was a shot of two cups of tea, labelled 'James' and 'Meryl' - as in Streep, alongside whom Norton stars in Little Women. "She's everything you'd expect and more, a total pro," he says. The film is one of a number of female-led projects Norton has worked on recently. The Trial of Christine Keeler, which revisits the Profumo scandal through the eyes of the model, played by Ellie Bamber, was also written and directed by women.

James Norton in Cannes with (from left) Colin Firth, Florence Pugh and Livia Firth

"The story has always been told from a male perspective, but now we have a female writer, producer, director and lead, telling a female story. It's wonderful that we're reassessing those moments in history. Nearly every man you'll speak to will agree that this is an incredibly important and necessary moment of reflection and recalibration - one that future generations will thank us for, I hope."
He thinks men - or at least his peers - feel "relief" as a result of the #metoo movement. "Most men don't want to have to be that macho guy. There's a sense of, 'Thank God we don't have to be that any more, we can just relax.'" At the same time, he's aware of the potential for confusion among young men.
"It's absolutely time we turned up the volume on women's voices, but that doesn't mean turning down the volume on young men. If we don't keep listening to their needs and insecurities, we run the risk of them feeling deeply confused about what it is to be a man and how to show your masculinity. We all know that suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45, so it's imperative that we have those conversations alongside #metoo and Time's Up."

James Norton with girlfriend Imogen Poots

When he's not sharing a cuppa with Meryl Streep, Norton says his life is far from glitzy. He travels a lot to New York, where Poots lives. The pair met in 2017 when they starred opposite each other in the West End play Belleville; although she's more publicity shy than he is, with no social-media presence, her career since she shot to fame aged 17 in 28 Weeks Later has been just as diverse, spanning indie art-house dramas and Hollywood romcoms.
When he's in the UK, Norton might be found swimming at Brockwell Lido or on Hampstead Heath, or "cooing over" his six-month-old nephew. He enjoys hosting dinner parties at home in Peckham, and insists that his table isn't crowded with A-listers.
"It's reassuring when you hang out with actors and realise that other people have the same joys and insecurities on this mad journey. But I also love hanging out with my friends from uni who just think my life is completely ridiculous."