Theo James: ‘Classics stop me looking like an ageing Justin Bieber’
The star of The White Lotus on dodgy tattoos, his love of suits — and an infamous prosthetic penis
A key moment in The White Lotus season two has Theo James’s character changing into swimming trunks and leaving little to the imagination. What we glimpse has since been revealed to be a prosthetic penis so large that the actor has joked it was modelled on that of a horse. “Yeah, what was that scene?” he asks. “Was it a power play? Was it abusive? Or just an accident?”
It is a credit to James’s performance that he manages to make Cameron Sullivan, the (literally) cocky rich jock he plays, a nuanced character. “He is a villain and fairly repugnant, but there’s affability and likeability too,” says the actor. “I saw a way into that character — there is a version of me in there, and about three people I’ve met along the way. This boyish, hypermasculine, charming guy who can also be intoxicating, dangerous and toxic.”
In person James, 38, is certainly charming and given to a nice line in self-deprecation. He reveals that growing up in Aylesbury, he and his mates had matching tattoos done: the “A Crew”. In fact it’s more embarrassing, he confesses: “It’s spelt ACRU.” Like a boy band? “Yeah, a terrible boy band from the Nineties with lots of hair gel and leather jackets… We definitely did that too.” This leads to tales of his early attempts to become a musician (he still plays, but only “funky versions of lullabies” to his two-year-old daughter; he is married to the actress Ruth Kearney). The narrative is of years of struggle, exploring genres from “cheese funk” to a “Mumford & Sons rip-off” and “alt/indie rock”.
A philosophy degree at Nottingham University led James to discover a talent for comedy and he took sketch shows up to the Edinburgh Festival. But the switch to acting, via the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, was not without its challenges. “I remember my first day on a film set, where I had to feed lines to Bryan Cranston. I had no idea they used a buzzer instead of a clapper board to start the scene and dried so often they cut me out of the movie.”
And yet here he is, some 20 years on, with a bunch of awards under his belt — most recently a SAG for drama series ensemble — and filming the star role in Guy Ritchie’s Netflix spin-off from his film The Gentlemen. Typically of Ritchie, the outfits are key and as the series is contemporary, so is James’s wardrobe. “Clothes can anchor you in a role — period collars and cummerbunds influence how you stand, move and hold yourself,” he says. It’s true of present-day drama too. “Cameron expresses his loucheness in the outfits — the brightness and the materials were chosen so deliberately.”
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James himself sticks to “timeless clothes, like suits and jackets that are fairly classic”. Otherwise things go awry. “I’ve tried being more avant-garde, but I just come across like an ageing Justin Bieber.” His sartorial role models are his Greek grandfather — “a very cool dresser, three-piece suits, smoked a pipe and his hair was immaculate, with this great thick Greek moustache” — and his Kiwi dad, who was a business consultant. “My dad worked from home when I was fairly young but he would dress up every day.”
One style trope he appreciates is the café-racer look. He’s been riding his “modified” Triumph Bonneville for 12 years and says that though “it sounds cringey” he is susceptible to the biker mythology. “I like the outfits. It’s a kind of costume, I guess — the helmets and jackets and boots of the Sixties and Seventies.”
But he can’t resist pricking his own bubble. “A couple of years ago my school asked me to come and chat to the kids. I thought what would be cool would be to jump on my motorcycle. Then I got a flat and my old teacher had to drive out in his Nissan Micra to rescue me. I instantly regressed — a 36-year-old sixth-former!”
The White Lotus season two is on Prime Video
Shoot credits
Styling David Nolan at Monday Artists. Grooming Carlos Ferraz at Carol Hayes Management using Boy de Chanel and No1 de Chanel Rich Revitalizing Cream. Art direction Ian Pendleton at Show Media. Production Show Media. Main picture Cardigan, £1,420, and polo, £800, tods.com. Trousers, £545, anderson-sheppard.co.uk. Sunglasses, £425, oliverpeoples.com. Top Time Triumph watch, £4,650, breitling.com