George MacKay's roles have taken him to the battlefield and seen him protest the government. So as a veteran shapeshifter – whose latest role sees him step aboard a fishing vessel for shores anew – it makes sense that he is eyeing up a role in Bond, but not in the way you would expect.
Since his childhood debut as Curly in 2003's Peter Pan, the 34-year-old British actor has cut a startling career for himself, bursting with artistic risk that has paid off in spades – landing him a steady stream of powerhouse co-stars with whom to create onscreen magic. His latest cinematic partner in Rose of Nevada is cool-as-a-cucumber industry agemate Callum Turner, 36, with whom a collaboration has been long overdue.
As George tells Metro: 'We have never actually worked together before. We have met over the years at various points: in a ticket queue, once at the theatre, and we have worked with lots of the same people at different points. But I was so thrilled when I heard that Cal was going to be doing this because he is making moves at the moment, it is amazing the path that he is cutting for himself, so to know that he was part of this just added an extra element to wanting to be part of it.'
Rose of Nevada is a small-budget movie shot by Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin in which George plays Nick, a devoted father desperate to make ends meet for his family, and Callum portrays Liam, a lost soul governed by the whims of the world around him. In a coastal town in Cornwall, once a thriving harbour village and now only an echo of what it once was, the eponymous fishing boat is hauled out for a trip with newly-baptised fishermen Callum and Liam on board. When their excursion takes a time-bending turn, this seemingly innocuous journey turns into a voyage far greater than any could have imagined, with tensions fast brewing between our two leading men.
George's face lights up as talk turns to his co-star. 'He is so passionate, but also really chilled, really kind, enthusiastic and funny and down to earth, and he is also a massive cinephile as well. He has seen everything and watches everything. We just fell into the dynamic really, although probably the characters have a slightly more fractured relationship than he and I did. We used to joke that we were the new boyfriends at the wedding, because we were coming into Mark Jenkin's Cornish family and crew and zone, but it was a really lovely community to step into.'
Moving to the locations (Hayle and Mullion) with his family for the two months of filming, it was both a physically and emotionally challenging endeavour – with a friendship clearly forged in flames (or should we say waves?). 'The fish hold is so small, and Callum and I were stacking boxes of fish with ice, and they are heavy. Trying to move and stack those boxes constantly while the boat is rocking and you are crouched lower, beneath head height. That was pretty physically taxing, those sequences,' the 1917 star says about one of the tougher moments.
After a bonding experience like that, it is no surprise that when I ask if he could see Callum as the new James Bond, he responds without hesitation. 'Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I have no inside scoop, but I totally think he would be a fantastic Bond, and maybe, I could be his villain,' he notes. In fact, he seems pretty sold on the idea of a Bond villain when I query whether he would throw his own hat in the ring. 'You cannot not really, but I also do genuinely like the idea of a villain. I think you can have some strange role within that. But, of course, it is Bond. You have got to be in the mix,' he reflects.
Callum is far from the only one George admired on set, however. To prepare to play local Cornishman Nick, the London-born screenstar studied a TV documentary that featured a fisherman called Lee, after whom he modelled his accent. So you can imagine his shock when director Mark revealed it was his boat being used for filming, likening it to 'meeting a childhood hero or something'. Meanwhile, fellow co-star Francis Magee, who plays the hardened third member of the bric-a-brac crew, 'had been a fisherman before he was an actor, so he felt comfortable at sea', George shares.
Ultimately, you can do all the prep you want, but nothing matters when the camera starts rolling – a lesson that has never rung truer. 'On Rose of Nevada, the highest power on set is that camera. We filmed it on a Bolex that winds up and only runs for 27 seconds, and because of the expense of film and the budget, we usually did one take of everything. You get one go at it, so aim at the target, know your stuff,' he relates.
This role was exciting for another reason, too. It is the first where the young father-of-two has been able to unpack fatherhood on a fictional level – and relate it to his own experience. 'I have just had a family in the last few years, and just like everyone, you are trying to do it as best you can and failing at certain points. What I love about Nick is that the circumstances that he falls into are quite extraordinary, but he himself is just trying to do the best for his family at every level. His family is his reason for getting on the boat. It is a reason for his behaviour and his state of mind when what happens on the boat happens. That was a really lovely thing to play because that is something that feels personally pertinent, but not something that I have had the opportunity to explore at work thus far.'
It is clear how much family means to him as we speak. He met his wife, hair and makeup artist Doone Forsyth, on the set of 1917 in 2019 and explains that balancing his personal and professional life is an ever-evolving work in progress. Case in point: He has just finished dropping his kids off at nursery before jumping onto our call. He says: 'That is the ever-unanswered question. I am blessed to have a wonderful partner who supports me in figuring out the juggle. It changes with the requirements of each project, with your yearnings about what you want and need personally and professionally and what you want to articulate artistically. Then there is just all the f***ing logistics... The answer was different yesterday, and it will be different tomorrow.'
Still, it has all been worth it for the incredible memories the star has forged from movies over the years, highlighting his career-shaping experience opposite Oscar-nominated Michael Shannon in The End, whom he called 'the perfect mix of raw intensity and just an absolute pro'. And, some have simply stayed with him, like his turn in the 2014 movie Pride about the LGBTQ+ community and miners' strike alliance in the 1980s where he played Joe. 'So often with these big social changes that you want to be a part of, it can feel overwhelming just to begin. That film was a lesson in: "It is better to just begin than to do nothing." That is something that I have always remembered and taken with me,' he reminisces fondly.
There is plenty more in the pipeline (aside from his Bond villain aspirations, of course) for George, including his role as the romantic hero in a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones. 'Talk about another favourite screen partner. Daisy is truly wonderful. I actually got to see the film recently, and I think she is absolutely exquisite in it. I had not actually read the book or seen the original film when I read the script from Diana Reid. I was like: "This is the best script ever." It is the perfect romantic comedy, and it moves so quickly, it is so funny, it is so poignant, it is so balanced,' he praised about the Georgia Oakley-helmed feature.
But this genre-hopping chameleon is far from running out of steam, and reveals he would 'love to do an action'. 'Something like The Bourne Identity – an intelligent action film. I have enjoyed the stunt work that I have been a part of on various projects, and I like the prospect of something that is there to thrill audiences. Bourne Identity, but whatever the new original version of that would be, that sounds good to me.'
