Theo James not 'comfortable' with fame

Theo James isn't comfortable with fame and has always viewed acting as "a job".

SHARE

SHARE

Theo James spoke to Brett Goldstein for Variety's Actors on Actors
Theo James spoke to Brett Goldstein for Variety's Actors on Actors

Theo James finds fame "uncomfortable".

The 'White Lotus' star has always viewed his profession as "a job" and admitted he can't see himself "just being an actor" when he's older because he thinks the lines between his craft and being a "celebrity" are getting increasingly blurred.

Speaking to Brett Goldstein for Variety's Actors on Actors series, he said: Life is complicated. I’m not necessarily sure I could see myself just being an actor at my parents’ age.

"It’s not so much I’ve had enough. But I always saw it as, 'It’s a job.' And I think the world has evolved in the last couple of decades; now it’s hard to delineate between the job and celebrity. Some of it I find uncomfortable."

The 38-year-old actor - who has a 22-month-old child with wife Ruth Kearney - starred in the 'Divergent' movie series and admitted he felt they lacked creativity because they needed to appeal to such a huge audience.

Asked if he found it overwhelming to be involved with the franchise, he said: "No, but those type of films, they’re quite specific. They have to be built in a way that is the widest common denominator, and that can sometimes drain some of the natural creativity from the process."

Theo appeared in the second season of 'The White Lotus' as Cameron Sullivan, an investments manager who is openly unfaithful to wife Daphne, and he and co-star Meghann Fahy thinks their unconventional relationship would be more accepted by the "fluid" younger generation.

He reflected: "It probably wouldn’t be a good marriage for myself.

"I think our age group, we still have the ghost of our parents’ generation, which was a standardised, formalised idea of monogamy.

"Whereas now, with the evolution of relationships and people younger than us who are sexy and trendier and way more fluid, things have evolved. They seem to be happy.

"That’s one thing Meghann Fahy and I talked about a lot, was they genuinely love each other. So perhaps it wouldn’t be for me. I don’t know about threesomes on Sundays and then picking my son up from soccer practice on Monday morning."

Read the full interview at https://variety.com/2023/tv/features/brett-goldstein-theo-james-white-lotus-ted-lesso-improv-sets-1235632107/