Pirate Radio’s hottie Tom Sturridge
British actor Tom Sturridge has a habit of working with some of the top acting talents in film today. He first came to filmgoers’ attention with his role as Annette Bening’s gay son, Roger Gosselyn, in Being Julia, beginning this Friday he can be seen in the film release of Pirate Radio.
The film, which also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh and Bill Nighy, chronicles a time in 1966 when free radio was prohibited except for a ship of pirate disc jockeys that broadcast rock music 24/7. Sturridge talked to Edge’s Jim Halterman during his press day for the film and talked about relating to his character on the ship, working with Bening and what is next for this up-and-coming actor.
Getting the acting bug
EDGE: You come from a family of performers and actors so was it inevitable that you become an actor, too?
Tom Sturridge: When I was a teenager, I didn’t know I could do what my parents did and I didn’t do any acting at school at all. It was only when I had the opportunity to meet a film director - I was a big cinema fan when I was younger - and István Szabó was making a film called Being Julia and I had a chance to meet him. It was only when he asked me to do a film that my concept of acting changed.
EDGE: And then the acting bug bit, huh?
TS: Yeah, it did. I was living in Budapest alone for the first time and it was summer and it was a very seductive experience.
EDGE: You were very good in Being Julia as Annette Bening’s son. When you work with someone of that caliber, are you just a sponge soaking up what she had to offer?
TS: Yeah! It was weird because I didn’t have any experience and I remember my first day was a seven-page scene with her and now if I was doing a seven-page scene tomorrow I would be terrified, working out different ideas, going over every word, all the ways to approach it whereas back then I just remember I got know my lines by heart, said them in the way I felt was appropriate... I was kind of fearless because I was so ignorant. Story continues on the following page.
Watch Tom Sturridge and other cast members of Pirate Radio discuss the film.
