Nicholas Galitzine Talks About His Homme-Fatale Turn in ‘Mary and George’

Photograph: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte

It takes all of 23 seconds for Nicholas Galitzine, the 29-year-old star of the new Starz series Mary & George, to disarm me. “I love your Wong Kar-wai hat,” he says, interrupting my interview preamble to gas up my SCRT cap. “That’s really sick.”

“I love your sweater too,” he continues, cracking a grin. “But I mean, you’re at GQ, so what should I expect, really?”

In a way, I shouldn’t be surprised. This is, after all, a guy who is professionally charming—a literal Prince Charming in Amazon Prime’s Cinderella, the titular Handsome Devil in the 2017 coming-of-age soccer film. Last year, Galitzine broke through in the streaming sensation Red, White & Royal Blue, playing a blushing gay prince in love with the bisexual son of the American president. That movie—which went viral for a notably instructional sex scene between Galitzine and co-star Taylor Zakhar Perez—established him as both an Internet Boyfriend and a leading man in the making, capable of both holding the screen as an actor and making fancams do numbers.

This year sees Galitzine deliver on that potential in two projects that pair him with Oscar-winning costars—the sexy historical series Mary & George, with Julianne Moore, and the rom-com The Idea of You, with Anne Hathaway. In both parts, we see Galitzine pushing beyond his heartthrob persona and steering his career in a darker, more exciting direction.

Before we get to those projects though, Galitzine, prodded by my cap, talks to me about some of his favorite films. “I don't want to be basic and say [my favorite Wong Kar-wai film is] In The Mood For Love but I mean, it's just genius,” he tells me, about the filmmaker’s 2000 film, often considered one of the greatest of all time. “I'd say it's one of the most formative movies in terms of my own general movie tastes. Chungking Express is probably my second favorite movie.”

The actor speaks with studious awe about the medium he works in; he seems to have taken it upon himself to curate his own film-studies curriculum. “I went from Danish [cinema] and I'm into Korean [cinema] now,” he tells me. “Have you seen the movie Burning?” he asks, referring to the Lee Chang-dong thriller. When I tell him that I’m a big fan, Galitzine visibly lights up, rhapsodically talking up the film’s lead actors. “Steven Yeun is incredible!” he says. “Yoo Ah-in is ridiculously talented.”

On the cusp of an exciting moment in his own career, enjoying the kind of ecstatic critical consensus that changes trajectories, Galitzine hopped on a Zoom call with GQ to talk about onscreen chemistry, blowing up Anne Hathaway’s phone, and the secrets to a great sex scene.

GQ: When I first heard about the project, I thought it was so cool that you were working with Julianne Moore, who’s such an acting titan. Do you remember the first film you saw her in?

Nicholas Galitzine: I'd say it was probably The Big Lebowski or Boogie Nights—one of those movies. I remember being 15, 16 years old and starting to really broaden my cinematic tastes. In every role she does, even when she's more supporting in those movies, she pops in such a big way. She’s just got this insanely beautiful, striking face, but she's always made wonderful choices both in her acting and just her work generally. I was a huge fan of hers before working with her.

Mary & George is interesting because on one hand, it's obviously based on history, but it's also quite fictionalized. It reminds me of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, where it's somewhat factual but also took narrative liberties. What did you find interesting about the series when it first came across your desk?

Obviously a lot more is written about George—Mary's almost entirely fictional, because there's barely anything written about her. So I love the fact that it is that perfect marriage of ‘some of this is historically true’ and ‘some of it is rumored.’ There are letters between George and King James. With Mary, we know she was buried amongst the kings, so we know that she was powerful—but the context of her life, we don't know.

The thing that was so intriguing to me was there was this young man who’s this fragile boy when we first meet him, and he ascends to essentially be the king of England at one point—he had that kind of power, he had that kind of wealth. I just loved his character arc. I thought it was one of the most mercurial character arcs I've read in a script ever.

It's exciting [to work with] someone like Julianne as well because she naturally brings so much to the table. The sense of combativeness between George and Mary—that's one of my favorite parts of the show. We see a young boy looking for the affection of his mother, and then we see a young man trying to completely separate himself from her and have a sense of autonomy outside of her control. I love the way our relationship evolves.

Your character is kind of an homme fatale. He weaponizes his looks and his charms to get ahead and get what he wants. As an actor, you’re someone who’s seen by society as physically gifted. You've been referred to as an Internet Boyfriend, all of those things, online. I was wondering, what's been your own relationship with that aspect of your persona and celebrity? Was there anything in this character that you were able to relate to in that way?

I would say maybe the sort of superficial lens that is placed upon you. You as a human being always believe that you bring more to the table than just an aesthetic. And I've felt like, in my teenage years especially, I've been an ugly duckling. And so it's funny when people kind of attribute that to you now, because it just doesn't tell the whole story.

And I think that what George believes is, how he's defined by many people doesn't tell his whole story. And I think that's what's so interesting about him and how he's able to manipulate is he plays into people's fantasies of himself, but his aspirations are higher. I'm not saying that I am playing into people's fantasy of myself—because George and I are quite different in many ways—but I think I sensed in him [a feeling of being] misunderstood by a lot of people. And he's willing to play into that to get what he wants.

You talk about playing with fantasies but having higher aspirations—I see that in your career. You did a lot of these heartthrob roles early on, but you're also trying to get to this next level as an actor. Those are the higher aspirations, right?

Well, look, I know who I am. I know what I can do. I know the artistry I hope to emulate. It's trickier to have agency over your career when you're starting out and you very much have to play into how people see you. But I think with the rise of people like Robert Pattinson, and more recently like Jacob Elordi and Charles Melton, it's very hopeful, I think, for a lot of people who are seen in one way. You really have to force people to consider the other facets that you have to your person.

And I think in every project I've done, even if it's been sort of more lightweight and light in general, I try and bring a humanity and a groundedness to that, and I think that's what appeals to people and that's what resonates with people. But I'm glad you see that. And I think definitely going forward, it's about positioning myself as an artist and not just doing the really dark roles, which I still have loved doing, but really exploring all the different genres and subject matters.

It's not like “dark” equals “better.”

No, exactly.

Cary Grant is, for me, just one of the best actors ever. But a lot of his roles were light.

I mean, even recently someone like Ryan Gosling we're considering in such a different light. I mean I think he's always been really, really funny, but I so admire his ability to do everything and it nourishes you in a very, very different way. I think there is no desire to be this disheveled, depressed artist. [Laughs] I think you can't have the light without the shade.

A hundred percent. You mentioned earlier actors that you aim to emulate. Who are your North Stars?

I obviously mention Ryan Gosling. I love Jacob. I love James McAvoy. I mean Robert Pattinson is a big one, Tom Hardy as well. But also just seeing a lot of the careers of these amazing young actors around me like George MacKay, who I think is wonderful. Florence Pugh and Saoirse Ronan I think are amazing. I'd love to keep acting with amazing stars like Anne Hathaway and Julianne Moore, but also people from my generation as well who are killing it. I feel like I have so much to learn from them as well.

On that note, you’ve kind of made your name in these projects that are so reliant on chemistry. Sometimes I’ll see a movie where I’m like, “There’s no chemistry–I don’t buy this.” But there’s chemistry between you and Tony Curran in this series, between you and Julianne in this series, between you and Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You, and obviously between you and Taylor Zakhar Perez in Red, White & Royal Blue. Are there secrets to creating onscreen chemistry? Are there hacks to it? How do you get there?

Whether people know this about me or not, I'm an extremely candid person. I'm a very open person. Part of the process for me is I need to get to know you as much as possible because we're going to be on set together for at least a couple of months—and that's not just with my fellow actors. That's with my crew as well. If I had to be self-aggrandizing, I'd say that I think I'm pretty good at creating community on set. So I give my scene partners access to myself and I hope they give me access to them.

And I think it's, as you said, we can totally see when chemistry is forced. Let's talk about The Idea of You, for example. I mean, Annie and I had to do some very intimate scenes where we're basically naked in bed with each other, and there has to be a connectedness there and a trust. I think had we not opened ourselves up to each other, it just would've created a tension in the scene that would not have been useful. I mean, acting is all about human connection. That's literally what it comes down to. And I feel if you don't have that, if you create barriers between each other, then it's never going to be as compelling.

How does that happen in practice? Getting closer to a costar, opening yourself up. Is that a workshop, or does that happen casually?

No, it's just blowing up their phones, trying to hang out, going for meals, getting people out for game nights. [Laughs] I sent Annie so many voice messages asking her what her last meal would be and stuff like that. It's really just ‘I’m a resource to you, you’re a resource to me. Let's just get to know each other.’ Tony and I were texting away immediately because, again, we knew we'd have to do a bunch of really intimate scenes together.

I'd have to say my method, if I had to be pretentious, is just, ‘Let's just be people with each other.’ I think an openness is just so important to this line of work, and it makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. I've honestly really just had such positive filming experiences, and I think that's partially because I like to keep an openness about myself.

Originally Appeared on GQ