Best remembered for his time playing moustachioed bastard Chris Finch in The Office, Ralph Ineson has spent the past two decades trying to outrun that role. Equipped with a distinctive gravelly voice, the journeyman actor has played characters as diverse as a cruel 17th century peasant in period horror The Witch – and a senior First Order officer in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Pandemic-inflicted delays have squeezed a number of Ineson’s projects into 2021. He now has a total of five films scheduled or expected this year. There’s the titular – and gnarly – monster in fantasy fright-fest The Green Knight, a “very cool” mob boss in Karen Gillan action vehicle Gunpowder Milkshake, and the “tortured dad” from drag celebration Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Plus a few more, of course.
To dig deeper into Ineson’s blockbuster breakout year, NME caught up with the Yorkshireman over Zoom for a highly enjoyable chat.
The Green Knight
Release date: July 30
Ralph Ineson: “I loved the character as soon as I read the script – he’s got such devilment but also warmth about him. I think you get such an atmosphere from the trailer of exactly what it’s gonna be about. It’s dark and it’s weird, but it’s funny as well. I think David Lowery is a witty director and he’s got a beautiful eye.
“Dev Patel is an astonishing actor. Sometimes when you’re face to face with an actor – a few days just the two of you – you really get to see how someone works and he’s amazing.”
For fans of: Game of Thrones, Gretel and Hansel
Gunpowder Milkshake
Release date: TBC, expected 2021
“Some of the action scenes are gonna be out of this world. It’s very exciting and it’s crazy. It’s the story of a bunch of assassin librarians and one of them kills my son, who’s a gangster gone rogue, and I’m a local mobster. So my people are chasing these assassins and the cast list [including Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett] is just incredible. Every one of them is a proper icon-type female badass. It’s serious Girl Power stuff.”
For fans of: John Wick, Charlie’s Angels
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Release date: TBC, expected 2021
“I got sent it and went: ‘Oh it’s got Richard E. Grant in it, wow!’ That’s a big one for me because I’m a huge Withnail and I fan. I read it and really enjoyed it – it was a really good script and I thought the characters [felt] real. Sarah Lancashire’s brilliant and to [act] opposite her was a real pull.
“It looks like the kind of film that’ll be really important the sooner they can release it. Even if it’s not out for another six months or a year, I think it’ll still be important, because it’s a really feel-good film and it’s about tolerance and inclusivity and all sorts of things that everybody needs right now. But it’s also a film that’ll make people smile and laugh.”
For fans of: RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pride
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Release date: TBC, expected 2021
“It’s a small part at the very start of the film, as The Captain who comes back to report from battle – it’s a great speech. It turned out that Joel Coen had wanted my voice to open the film, so they flew me out to LA to do that, which is a great compliment.
“It’s shot in black-and-white – it’s gonna look fantastic. Before we started shooting, I walked through all the artwork and design department and it’s spooky stuff. The costume as well, it creates a world that’s kind of both majestic and dirty and bloody – it’s what you’d expect from Joel Coen doing Macbeth, but in lots of ways it’s not.”
For fans of: No Country for Old Men, The Favourite
The Northman
Release date: TBC, expected 2021
“It’s an enormous movie. I saw a four-minute montage of some of the stuff they’d already shot and I was really blown away. The marriage of Rob Eggers’ imagination and Viking folklore… Jesus, man.
“Alexander Skarsgård looks like an absolute beast. [There’s] a scene where he beats this guy in a battle; bends down and rips his throat out with his teeth, screams to the gods and he’s got his shirt off – and you think: ‘My god that’s not a bodybuilder doing a scene, that’s like a proper serious actor!’ He’s made himself look like some kind of monster for the part, the dedication’s incredible. I think it will be a bit of a masterpiece, to be honest. If I was to put bets on any film being an absolute banger, it would be that one.”
For fans of: Vikings, The Lighthouse