Even if people don’t know Will Poulter’s name, they recognize his face. It’s helped that the 30-year-old Briton has acted half his life, amassing an eclectic list of film credits, but he’s also been curvaceous and expressive like Fleurde. It is also blessed with unique eyebrows. They draw people in, even if they don’t always know where to put the actors in front of them.
“To be honest,” said Poulter. are you the one from that? what did i see you
Often this forces Poulter to cycle through the list of projects until one is clicked. Do they remember him as the shy idiot who took kissing lessons from Jennifer Aniston?we are mirrorsor a cheeky friend who had a bad ending with “midsommar“? Or did he grow up with his YA franchises he co-starred in, such as the ‘Maze His Runner’ series and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Steppe at Dawn’?
Poulter is a patient man, but his willingness to oblige strangers can still lead to awkward moments. He likened himself to a supporting character on “The Simpsons,” adding: Troy McClure Impression: ‘You may know me from…“
From this weekend onwards, Poulter’s “Where do you know me from?” conversation will soon receive trump cards. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Depicted in the comics as genetically engineered perfect beings, Poulters Warlocks have shimmering golden skin and dangerous powers. Imagine an Oscar statue that can fire cosmic beams from his hands.
Shown flying through space to the moving guitar rock of Hart’s “Crazy on You,” Warlock is a key figure in Marvel lore, but not in the new Guardians movie. He’s still coming into his own when we meet him. It’s a little too early cocoon, but Warlock has a sense of right and wrong that he can seize upon. This allows Poulter to play some amazing beats as he butts his head with the Guardians and considers joining their side.
“He brought life and reality to someone who was essentially a child in the body of an adult,” said James Gunn, the film’s writer and director.
Oh yes, great Yorking. While he was often cast as a scrawny nerd early in his career, Poulter has recently been going through a glow-up with Jim’s help. His fellow British actors Nicholas Hoult and Dev Patel played realistically awkward teenagers on screen before blossoming into Hollywood heartthrobs.
Just a few years ago, Poulter was bullied on social media because of his looks, but after his body changed, he became the subject of thirst tweets and Internet boyfriend articles. That’s enough to make the man flog, and Poulter said he’s analyzing the head trip.
“I’ve shaped my personality around certain perspectives, so it’s pretty weird,” he admitted. “Psychologically, I’m still 5-foot-4. It was my height at school, and I’m still used to being tall!”
Poulter is polite, humble, and shows no trace of the poverty he once was a child actor. When I met him at Soul Food in a strip mall in Los Angeles in early March, he woke up early to watch an Arsenal soccer game, looking forward to the game over a large bowl of Jambalaya. “Completely easy-going, listens to everything and at the same time very serious, game to anything,” Gunn said. “He’s down to earth and fun to be with.”
Gunn chose him to play the golden god, but Poulter is too self-deprecating to put that kind of role on his mind.
“When I was cast, I knew they were definitely going in a different direction than the ‘perfect guy,'” he said with a grin.
I can Comes with its own special luggage, Poulter has always thought of acting in a safe space. Spent a week of school on it.
At the age of 12, on the recommendation of her drama teacher, she auditioned for a glamorous indie comedy. “Rambo’s Son”he landed his breakout role in the film in his first attempt, filming it for eight weeks during the summer holidays. “For it to be my introduction to the film industry, I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter, nicer, healthier experience,” he said. really caught fire.”
Since then, Poulter has worked steadily. You may have seen his supporting roles in big-name dramas like ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Detroit,’ but he’s also overcome the unique challenges of growing up in the public eye. Playing awkward virgin Kenny in ‘re the Millers’ made him a household name, but led to an increase in heckling and harassment from strangers. Later, in the 2018 Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch,” a bespectacled computer He played the designer of the game. You made a very sharp comment. announced He will step back from Twitter to maintain his mental health.
Now that the tide has turned to grateful tweets instead of cruel jokes, Poulter is skeptical of what social media might have to say about him. I don’t know those people,” he said. We just carry it around and don’t really know if it really adds up in the end.”
he smiled. “It’s a bad math analogy from someone with severe dyslexia.”
He once saw a tweet comparing pictures of flashy characters from “We’re the Millers” to their muscular modern incarnations. “People act like I played Kenny Miller in his 2013, and then wake up like there was some weird, mysterious explanation behind it, like now.” I can see it,’ he said. “I just grew up, like every other human being on the planet.”
But unlike Adam Warlock, who emerges from his newborn cocoon with a perfect physique, Poulter’s new look took time to achieve. He took up weightlifting early in the pandemic and found that a regular fitness regimen worked wonders for his mental health. With looming, Poulter spurred on his workouts, and by the time he began auditioning for “Guardians,” he had already reached the shape that meant he could perform plausibly. superhero.
“If you want to do it in a safe and completely natural way, you have to be prepared to spend a lot of time doing it,” Poulter said. I wouldn’t have been in the shape I am today if I hadn’t built a solid foundation.”
If people think his physical transformation happened overnight, Poulter fears they’ll believe he relied on enhanced means to achieve it. There is a lot of pressure on young people, both men and women, when it comes to body image,” Poulter said. I think we need to be completely transparent about how we got there.”
Are other actors less transparent about the yoke? “It’s possible,” Poulter objected. “It’s not what I say.”
Still, even though Poulter has come a long way into Marvel’s musculature, he knows that hasn’t stopped people speculating. “My mom used to send messages like, ‘Did Will have plastic surgery?
Poulter tries to clean it up, but one viral clip still gnaws at him. the way.
“It’s been played millions of times,” says Poulter. “Does it bother me that someone believes it, or thinks I did it in some other way that contradicts what I’m advocating? I think it’s about learning to relinquish your control over .I just hope there are enough people who know what’s going on.”
After finishing lunch, Poulter chatted with our server. Over the course of our meal, I watched her dawn on her knowing who he was. “You’re so funny,” she eventually told Poulter, who thanked her.
Discussing a global press tour for “Guardians,” Poulter said he wasn’t really sure if Marvel had big plans for him beyond this movie. “Obviously I would be pissed if my fans didn’t like Adam Warlock. My family’s opinion means a lot, but it doesn’t necessarily bring me back as a character.” ”
But even though it turned out to be a one-off, playing Warlock was a valuable experience, says Poulter. When he first started production, Gunn told him he shouldn’t be afraid to fail. For someone struggling with how they were perceived, that advice was terrifying, but it was also liberating. It meant that he could take a big swing and feel safe, and that he could learn to forgive himself when things didn’t go as planned.
These are the kinds of perceptions that keep Poulter fascinated with acting even when so many other things about his chosen career are difficult. And while it can be difficult to do and it can take a toll on your mental health, I think it’s very necessary to reflect on your own psyche and the impact it has on the world. said Poulter. “It’s a lovely psychoanalytic journey that I really enjoy.”
