Taron Egerton and Matthew Vaughn are two peas in a pod. From Egerton’s big debut in the Kingsman franchise to the career-changing Rocketman, wherever Vaugh goes, Egerton is never too far behind. The two are very different building blocks but when they come together, much like their recent work in Apple TV+’s latest original film Tetris, they end up making something exciting.
“When I first met him, I thought he was a fucking nightmare, but I also said that I was a very sensitive 23-year-old. Possibly quite precious at the time, and I didn’t fully understand him because he’s quite direct. He’s also somebody who I think takes him a long time to trust somebody,” said Egerton in an interview with Geek Culture.
“Now, I actually think I’m probably one of the few people he listens to. At the risk of getting very mushy and sentimental, I do love him, you know, he changed my life.”
Egerton and Vaugh first worked together on 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service. Vaughn directed and wrote the screenplay for the spy action-adventure film and Egerton starred in it as spy recruit Gary “Eggsy” Unwin. Egerton rose to popularity following the film’s release and even starred in the subsequent sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Egerton’s Eggsy was tough, rough and always getting into trouble, but is also fiercely protective and loyal to those around him. He cares deeply for his friends and family so it’s no surprise that much like Eggsy, Egerton has become loyal and protective of Vaughn too.
“I will never ever feel like I don’t owe Matthew everything, even the money I make on jobs that have nothing to do with him, I sort of don’t feel they ever would have come unless he’d given me that role of Eggsy and everything thereafter,” continued Egerton.
“So our relationship is very strong. It’s very familial and he’s always very supportive of me in many facets of my life. And obviously, he keeps asking me to star in movies he’s producing and anyone who asks me to star in movies they’re producing is all right by me.”
Tetris is their latest project together. Directed by Jon Baird and produced by Vaughn, Tetris is a biographical dramedy that follows entrepreneur Henk Rogers (Egerton) in his journey to bringing the game ‘Tetris’ to the Nintendo Gameboy back in 1989, and subsequently, to the rest of the world. It is a movie that sheds light on the complex battle for the rights to the iconic video game compressed into a frenetic 2-hour adventure packed with ligitation dispute, worldwide travel and the Russian KGB. It’s not exactly like Kingsman, Egerton notes, but there are elements shared across both films that make Tetris all the more exciting.
“Kingsman is a complete work of fiction. This is a true story, or largely based on a true story, but I suppose even though Matthew didn’t direct this movie, there is a style and a tone to the movies that Matthew Vaughn’s company makes that I think gives them a sense of commonality and similarity – least of all the fact that I play the lead in a lot of them,” said a cheeky Egerton.
“But I think what it shares with Kingsman is it’s very fast-paced. It’s quite poppy. It’s very fun. It’s got great music, it’s very colourful and I think the reason I love making movies with Marv (Matthew Vaugh) is because you feel like you’re making movies that you can rest assured audiences will enjoy because I think Matthew has a great instinct for that.”
And this isn’t the first time Egerton has played an actual person in a film, after his scene-stealing turn as Elton John in Rocketman, whichwon an Oscar for Best Original Song. The movie chartered John’s breakthrough years in the 1970s and his rise to fame from a shy piano prodigy to an international superstar, and helped the actor ready himself for his portrayal of Rogers in Tetris, especially since Egerton is aware that both men he’s portraying are still very much alive.
“Obviously, when you’re playing a real person, there’s always a thing in your mind where you’re sort of not wanting to do anything that would upset them, or make them feel misrepresented. But also you kind of slightly have to ignore that as well because you want to try and maintain some degree of impartiality and serve the story best. When you’re an actor, you’re in service of a script and a story, as opposed to in service of the person who inspired the story,” said Egerton.
“I wanted to try and give as accurate a flavour of who Henk was both aesthetically. Hence, my sort of big bushy black hair and moustache, but also try and capture something of his personality, which is this sort of puppyish, kind of childishly obsessed guy who loves gaming and video games.”
When approaching such roles, Egerton emphasises the importance of sticking to the script. According to the actor, remaining impartial to the role also helps in ensuring that he is in service of the story and isn’t misleading the audience. At the end of the day, all Egerton cares about is presenting what he thinks is accurate in that moment of time, and that includes portraying a person in a bad light where necessary too.
“You have to know the script really well, that’s the thing. The script is everything, the script is the source of all of your information because that’s the story you’re telling. You can’t depict anything that’s not dealt within the script. I could play that my character is thinking something but unless the script somehow acknowledges it, either through inference, subtext, or direct acknowledgment, an audience are never going to pick up on it, because it’s not part of the storytelling,’ explained the actor.
“So for me, it’s always in service of the script and I try and know the script as well as possible. I do research about the characters I play outside of the script but more as auxiliary knowledge than something that directly applies to my job,” emphasised the 33-year-old actor.
Although Tetris is Egerton’s second biographical film, it is also his first video game film. The actor acknowledges that video game films aren’t as popular as compared to other genres in filmmaking but shared that acting in Tetris has allowed him to see just how passionate the video game community is.
“Video games are sometimes marginalised into a category of being more disposable than other forms of storytelling, yet the industry is one of the most profitable and far-reaching in the world and I think we are beginning to see that manifest in Hollywood now and I think we’ll see a lot more of that in the coming years,” said Egerton.
“I think people are passionate about video games in the way that they’re passionate about films or television or written fiction and I think Henk’s story is a testament to that just way before the rest of the world caught onto it. He was somebody in pursuit of a set of rights that were going to potentially make him very wealthy, I think that’s balanced by the fact that he also really, truly, unashamedly just loved the game, and was a fan as much as he was a hustler.”
Despite holding big and popular roles, Egerton knows he is not a household name but is working towards it, by diversifying the roles and projects he takes on and putting out the best work he possibly can.
“I’ve been really lucky and I really love what I do. I try and pick things that are different from one step to the next. I like to try and pick different types of stories because diversity is exciting to me,” shared the actor.
“I suppose what I’ve always really wanted is to be a character actor who is the lead in things. That’s what I’d like to be. Those are the people that I most admire in terms of actors, you know, I would define great character leads as people like Gary Oldman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. They’re the people that I would aspire to be like so I will continue to try and pick things that are different, things that are more sober, things that are more fun and try not be shit in things because when you’re shit in things, people stop hiring you and I really want people to carry on hiring me so I’m mainly focused in not being shit in things.”
The post Geek Interview: From Kingsman to Rocketman, ‘Tetris’ Star Taron Egerton Talks Early Career And Future Plans appeared first on Geek Culture.
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