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Taylor Swift isn't the only one who has fallen for the British actor, as he steals our hearts in the TV adaption of Sally Rooney’s debut book. Katie O’Malley meets the star giving Paul Mescal a run for his money.
If anything sums up the absurdity of remote working during the pandemic, it might be the way Joe Alwyn met his Conversations With Friends co-star, Alison Oliver. ‘A couple of months before shooting in Belfast, Lenny [Abrahamson, the director] wanted the two of us to meet with him, so we ended up both staying in an empty hotel during lockdown,’ he recalls. ‘It felt like The Shining.’
But it’s thanks, perhaps, to Northern Ireland’s lockdown restrictions that Alwyn and his co-stars (Oliver, Jemima Kirke and Sasha Lane) were able to form the tight-knit bond needed to portray the intense relationships between their characters in the long-awaited TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2017 debut novel Conversations With Friends. ‘It meant that we could all hang out a lot and have fun together,’ he says, recalling hikes along the Giant’s Causeway, drinking pints, and hanging out at Abrahamson’s home.
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The 12-part series, out this month, is an exploration of complex, intertwining love stories between four unlikely individuals – two university students (Frances and Bobbi) and a married couple (Melissa and Nick). ‘It was a no brainer,’ London-born Alwyn says of the opportunity to play Nick – a pained, quiet actor who navigates an affair with timid Frances whilst still being in love with self-assured Melissa. ‘He’s gone through a bit of a storm and is in a place of recovery. He’s numb to the world,’ he says.
Today, the 31-year-old couldn’t be more dissimilar from his meek on-screen character. Dressed in a mustard knitted jumper and speaking to me via Zoom from his home in North London, he's warm and self-effacing. Addressing the the discomfort of the students in the story in the ‘adult’ settings, Alwyn says he can relate to the characters’ gawkiness at times. ‘It's definitely a familiar feeling – that, “We’re out of depth, don't know what to say and want to go home."’
It took just five days after sending in his audition tapes for Alwyn to learn he’d landed the role. ‘I was so excited I went to my parents and had loads of drinks,’ he says. The son of a psychotherapist and a documentary filmmaker, Alwyn developed a passion for acting at an early age. ‘I was Snowy the dog in TinTin,’ he laughs, recalling minor roles in school productions. But despite since starring in award-winning films like Boy Erased and The Favourite, he admits he’s not immune to the ‘struggle’ involved in acting. ‘It’s such a weird job. It's full of so much kind of confusion, rejection, ups and downs.’
Acting is such a weird job. It's full of so much kind of confusion, rejection, ups and downs
One of the downs is undoubtedly the public’s interest in his own life (Alwyn has been dating Taylor Swift since 2016). He still struggles to understand society’s acceptance that sharing, rather than protecting, one’s private details is the norm. ‘It's not really [because I] want to be guarded and private, it's more a response to something else,’ he shrugs. ‘We live in a culture that is so increasingly intrusive… The more you give – and frankly, even if you don't give it – something will be taken.’
Following the success of the BBC’s adaptation of Rooney’s Normal People (which swept the board at 2020’s BAFTAs and Golden Globes), Alwyn knows all too well fans’ expectations of Conversations will be high, especially given the stories’ shared sensibilities and themes. ‘But at the same time, it's very different,’ he says, noting that above anything he wants the new series ‘to provoke discussion’. ‘[Rooney] never ties things up neatly at the end, which is one of the reasons why I really love [her books].’
While he’s yet to meet Rooney (he sent her a ‘fan message’ after being cast in Conversations), the actor has long appreciated her work. ‘I think she's such an amazing, perceptive writer,’ he says. In a similar vein to Normal People’s Connell and Marianne (played by Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones, respectively), Alwyn says there’s a lot said in the unsaid between Nick and Frances. ‘That's very much part of Sally's books,’ he notes. ‘[They] really struggle with self-expression, and Nick finds it deeply irritating because he wishes he knew how to communicate better.’
It seems likely that this series will make as many waves as its predecessor, but with upcoming roles in The Stars At Noon opposite Margaret Qualley, and Lena Dunham’s new film, Catherine, Call Birdy, it's Alwyn who is set to make the biggest splash of all.
Conversations with Friends airs on BBC Three, Sunday May 15 with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer the same day.
This article originally appeared in the May issue of ELLE UK, out now.