#the way hes being portrayed in the current flash comics where he looks 13 makes me feel insane

[joealwyndaily]

Man About Town interview with Joe Alwyn

Fresh off the back of a star turn in Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet, we catch up with British superstar Joe Alwyn about getting into an evil mindset, playing the long-game in his career, and his upcoming role in Steven Knight’s A Christmas Carol.

words by Francesco Loy Bell

It’s an unnerving experience, having to ask an actor to fill you in on the ending of the film you’re supposed to be interviewing them about, but it’s a testament to Joe Alwyn’s charm and down-to-earth manner that he duly obliges, happily relaying the final ten minutes of Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet with an infectious enthusiasm only someone with genuine passion for a project could muster. I had been most of the way through Lemmons’ bold new offering, centred around American historical icon and slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman, when the fire alarm sounded, resulting in a hoard of shell-shocked journalists being quickly ushered out of the building, only to be told that we would not be able to watch the last 25 minutes of the film. Fast-forward 24 hours, and I can’t help but pause to reflect on the surreality of sitting across from the films horrifying antagonist as he casually explains his fate to me over coffee. More on that later, however. 

Despite being the only actor in his immediate family, it’s fair to say Alwyn inherited some of the requisite DNA to pursue a career in film, his father, a documentary-maker and his mother, a therapist. Alwyn sees both as formative, instilling him with the “curiosity for looking into people’s lives, observing, and listening to stories” that had possessed him from an early age. “I always liked going to the cinema,” he explains, “sitting in big dark rooms, watching stories. It was kind of a way to disappear.” Though he cannot pinpoint the exact ‘light bulb’ moment in which he decided to become a professional actor, he does attribute seeing Ben Whishaw as Hamlet at the Old Vic when he was 12 or 13 as foundational, and “one of those moments that stick with you, where I thought: ‘I would really like to do that’.” That feeling soon blossomed, Alwyn taking numerous shows to the Edinburgh Fringe while at school and university, shows he can now jokingly admit “should not have been seen by anyone!”

Drama school naturally beckoned, the then-graduate enrolling himself into The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, an experience he looks back on fondly, his eyes lighting up as he recalls some of the more eccentric aspects of his time there. “A lot of rolling around on the floor, a lot of tight black clothing. And lots of trees, I was a brilliant tree,” he laughs, before informing me, in sudden deadpan: “you’re also looking at a llama.”

Alwyn probably wouldn’t have expected such a swift re-entry into the dynamic absurdity of drama school so soon after leaving, but then he probably wouldn’t have expected to be working with director Yorgos Lanthimos only a couple of years later either. Having shot his first job — Ang Lee’s reverse-engineered war film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk — just after he graduated in 2015, Alwyn was sent the script of a then still in development The Favourite soon afterwards. “It felt like a special script. I mean, at that point, I hadn’t read that many scripts. I still was” — he catches himself, as his eyes widen in momentary wonder — “well, I still am new to this. But yeah, it was just... such a good script. I knew of Yorgos; I knew of his films. And those two things kind of narrowed together: this twisted take on a genre that can be quite conventional and stuffy, and his very unique, singular mind. It was exciting.”

A skype session with Lanthimos soon followed (“we talked about everything probably apart from The Favourite” Alwyn laughs), and the rest is history, the actor landing the role of Samuel Masham, a young baron in the court of Olivia Colman’s Queen Ann. Though his turn in the film is punctuated by exaggerated physicality — the court dancing scene with Rachel Weisz a particularly memorable example — Alwyn tells me that it was only when he got on set that Lanthimos’ true, bonkers vision began to come to life. 

“I didn’t know that it was going to become one of those moments,” he says of the dance scene and others like it. “Because in the script it just said ‘they dance’, or, ‘he chases her’.” He can’t help but smile when speaking about Lanthimos: “He is hilarious. And confusing. He doesn’t really say anything to you about conventional direction; there was no discussion of period, or etiquette, or character, or history — which I think we’d expected to a degree, just because of the nature of the film. We had two weeks of ridiculous exercises and rehearsals, where I’d be playing Olivia’s part, and Olivia would be playing Nick [Hoult]’s part, and you’d sing the lines, and you’re chasing each other, and... you don’t know what you’re doing, or why you’re doing it. And Yorgos doesn’t say anything. And then he’d get on set, and just kind of say ‘Mmm... louder, faster, quieter’.”

The profound respect Alwyn holds for Lanthimos is tangible — he responds “Yorgos again” in a flash when I ask him who he’d love to work with — and he largely credits the director’s vision for the success the film has since garnered. “He made it weird and wacky and bawdy and irreverent, and it’s just not what you’re used to seeing,” he gushes. One particular on-set tale gives some insight into the energetic nature of Lanthimos’ sets, Alwyn recollecting a close-shave experience during a flirtatious forest scene with Emma Stone which resulted in the actress being taken to hospital. “The woods scene; the rugby tackling scene. We — or I — got maybe a little too carried away in the rugby aspect of it, and Emma took a fall... which was completely my fault. She knocked herself on the root of a tree and hurt her head; the paramedics came, she had to go to hospital, and we had to stop filming for the day.” The sheer panic still momentary lingers on Alwyn’s face as he recounts the story: “She’d just won an Oscar [...] I was cowering in the corner thinking I’d just killed Emma Stone.”

Alwyn’s latest project, Harriet, is a stark departure from The Favourite, the actor trading in Masham’s comic fluidity for the chilling rigidity of Gideon Brodess, the vengeful and sickeningly violent son of Harriet’s owner. As aforementioned, it is difficult to reconcile the man sitting opposite me sipping his coffee with the evil he portrays on screen, and I’m curious as to Alwyn’s process for getting into such a poisonous mindset. “It’s tricky, because what he stands for is abhorrent, and obviously unrelatable,” he explains. “What him and his family did, and the idea of slavery, is repulsive. But I suppose with those kinds of characters you try to find some kind of humanity within them — which suits the time they were living in — to hold onto. And in Gideon’s case, it’s probably some kind of deep, repressed, buried feelings of love. Maybe love for Harriet? I don’t think he necessarily has a language for it, or even understands what it is. But he’s deeply tangled and confused inside. And you try and connect with those sides of him. But, in terms of who they are and what they stand for... it’s hard to find a way in. It’s near impossible.”

Alwyn gives a brutal performance in the film, deftly showcasing Gideon’s skin-crawling internal struggle between racist disgust, and Lima Syndrome-style  lust of Harriet, and his antagonistic villainy is the perfect foil to fellow Brit Cynthia Erivo’s stunning performance as the eponymous emancipator, Alwyn extolling her “formidable” work ethic and on-screen generosity as hugely motivational in his preparation. The story of Harriet Tubman, though well known, is perhaps not as staple a piece of knowledge in the American psyche as her actions demand, and Alwyn hopes that the film will help to give her the wider historical credit she deserves, both in the States and beyond. “Growing up in the UK,” he explains, “I didn’t know who she was, really. I’d seen her name; I’d seen the older iconic images of her. But I didn’t know her story. You hope that films like this will make it more accessible, and bring people in to learn about her and the story of what she did, what she achieved.”

As the politics of division take hold around the world, there has been an intensified focus on the debate surrounding story-telling, and the potential impact or consequence a story can have in the current climate; Todd Phillips’ Joker, for example, has faced significant criticism for potentially giving encouragement to white terrorism and racism. In this vein, the telling of stories like Tubman’s seems more necessary than ever, and this is not lost on Alwyn. “If you go on Twitter and read down on the news, there’s endless stories of division and racism, bigotry, families being torn apart at the borders. Without putting too much on it, if there was someone who represents a fight in the face of that, Harriet Tubman seems to shine pretty strong. And you’d hope that someone like her would become a part of a global curriculum at school.” Alwyn is hopeful that giving figures like Tubman their due historical credit — at least in terms of film — will universalise her all-too-recent struggle, and help unite people in the face of societal partition.

Alwyn’s next project will see him return to London, albeit a dark, Dickensian version of the city, as he takes on the role of Bob Cratchit — Ebenezer Scrooge’s much-abused clerk — in Steven Knight’s upcoming rendition of A Christmas Carol. Though he cannot give too much away, he promises the miniseries will be much darker and truer to Dickens’ sordid portrayal of London than previous versions. “It’s very much more in that kind of gritty, darker, slightly twisted world,” he explains. “It’s not as sanitised, perhaps, as most other versions are [...] it really goes into Scrooge’s own pain and why he is the way he is in quite an unpleasant way. And definitely in a way that hasn’t been seen before.”

Alwyn speaks with a soft, magnetic enthusiasm that almost makes me forget that this is indeed an interview, and I am disappointed to look down at my dictaphone and discover that our allotted time slot is drawing to a close. Characteristically, however, he laughs off any time constraint, and I am afforded some final questions. At 28 years old, the actor is arguably slightly older than some of the other industry ‘up-and-comers’ one might bracket him alongside, and I ask whether he thinks the hyper-visibility of fame elicited by social media is in part to blame for an increasing tendency to link the validity of success with being in your early 20s. Alwyn, despite having an instagram page and being in a relationship with one of the biggest musicians in the world, is notably more private than many others in his position, and he quotes a piece of advice given to him by Ang Lee on set of Billy Lynn in his response.

“It’s not a sprint,” he decides, after some deliberation. “Everyone has different ways of going. I’m still at an early stage in my career. I left Central in 2015, the first film I was in came out at the end of 2016. It doesn’t feel too long ago. I don’t think there is any right way to do it, but [...] I do think it’s an interesting point about social media and the idea of instant visibility, an instant attainment... it’s a dangerous thing to play into. And something that would be dangerous to get hooked on because I don’t think it’s real. You know, social media is [a facade]. And if you buy into that being a reality — or that’s what you go after — it’s not healthy.”

I am struck by how refreshing Alwyn’s attitude to fame is, though by the end of our conversation, I am hardly surprised. This is someone for whom the work is clearly a far superior motivational factor than fame or recognition, and this passion for his craft is evident in every project he touches. Ang Lee was right, it is a marathon rather than a sprint, but Joe Alwyn certainly seems ahead of the curve as he enters what promises to be a vastly exciting new chapter in his career. I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does next.

[jubilantrose-blog]

in-depth timeline ;

(  TIMELINE FROM PREGAMES TO HER CURRENT CANON / AGE 18 )

while my previous post was more of an outline? this is a fully in-depth look into her timelines. this can and might change with any new information canon gives or if things come up in roleplays  ( i will not be going into full depth of the plots of these games -- just the basic jist of them. also some games will not include a summary as i don’t feel there’s a need for one. ALSO I WON’T INCLUDE GAMES AMY ISN’T A PART OF. those games happened, of course, but i’m just doing amy’s game timeline. );

PRE-GAMES ;

( entirely headcanon based ! ) 

Amy was originally an orphan / street hog. Her original parents weren’t prepared to raise a child and left her in the hands of what they hoped was a ‘suitable’ location. Though the people she was left with weren’t ideal and Amy ran away at a very young age. Surviving on the street for a good while by herself. She became known by people for being a ‘rascal’. And, given she didn’t talk much so people couldn’t know her name, her nickname became ‘Rosie’ which is where the moniker ‘Rosie the Rascal’ comes from.

Luckily, by age 6, she was taken in by a family of travelling fortune tellers. They taught her all about tarot cards and always believed she had a true gift or ability in the art of it. She considered them the closest thing to a family she ever had. And they helped her realize there are good people in the world. They saw the good in her, a mere street hog that often swiped and stole food and acted brash, and made her realize the world isn’t as cruel and lonely as she had thought.

During their travels and home life Amy was able to see the good they brought others. Learning about true love, seeing the best in people, and that ‘even those who are bad might have some good in them somewhere’. She decided to keep her name as Amy and adopt the ‘Rose’ to the end of it. No longer going by ‘Rosie’ anymore.

With Amy as part of their family? The travelling stopped. Them wanting to give her a normal life in a town compared to dragging her place to place.

By the age of 7, Amy had learned a lot about a certain blue hedgehog. Admiring him via newspapers, stories, and tales told by others on their journeys. Hearing about Sonic passing through towns and forest to stop the ‘bad guys’. Her crush and admiration is what inspired her to announce to her family ( after doing a tarot card reading ) that she’d meet him. Her family was supportive but grew concerned about letting her be so young and heading out there. Nevertheless this willful ( and stubborn ) little lady was gone in a flash.

AGE 8 - 11 ;

SONIC CD / MANIA ( the shorts / comic series ) ;

Amy truly had no idea what she was getting into. She was starstruck meeting her idol, her crush, and she went in without thinking. Only to soon be caught by Metal Sonic. Being kidnapped when meeting her idol was terrifying to her. Sure, her life beforehand wasn’t ideal. She got chased back on the streets, dealt with some angry individuals who she stole food from before meeting her family, but nothing like this. Nothing deadly or that serious.

Luckily, she was rescued.

And that made her crush on him grow even more.

Wanting to keep up with him, plus possibly defend herself from being kidnapped, she begins working hard using her piko-piko hammer. Continuing to chase after Sonic and join him along the way. Allowing herself to meet Tails and Knuckles in the process as they all go after Eggman.

AGE 11 - 12 ;

PRE SONIC ADVENTURE ( headcanon based ! ) ;

As the years had passed Amy found herself losing track of Sonic and the others for about a year. She decides to return home to visit her parents. She had been keeping in contact with them and visiting them on most holidays. Telling them stories about her adventures with Sonic. But when she arrived she had found the house abandoned and couldn’t get into any contact with them. A neighbor, spotting her confused, tells her that they decided to return to their traveling ways. Believing that, since Amy was so independent and had been proving herself as such, she didn’t need them as much.

Having spent the last few years chasing after Sonic, plus off on adventures, it dawns on her that...she doesn’t have a home ! So she heads off and, after looking at brochures and other things, decides that Station Square is the perfect place to find an apartment ! Plenty of shopping districts, work opportunities, and more !

She ends up getting an apartment there and happens to find work rather easily. Working at a small diner where she helped an elderly couple that ran the place. It didn’t pay much but it allowed her to keep food on the table and gave her something to do to pass the time.

AGE 12 ;

SONIC ADVENTURE ;

However, while work was ‘something’ to do ? She found herself bored sitting around in the same place.  Every day she did the same thing. Wake up, get dressed, go to work, go shopping til she dropped, go home, go to bed. It was mundane compared to those years of being rescued by Sonic and following after him. With him gone, with her having nothing to do, she was bored !

That would soon change.

Little did she know her reminiscing and longing for some excitement would, quite literally, fall from the sky in the form of a Flicky. With a desire to protect it, plus a robot now chasing after her, she soon finds herself running into her hero himself ! Sonic would help her ! He would know what to do to keep this birdie safe ! He would--

Except.... he runs away.

She does manage to catch up to him, though ! And, though admittedly a little scatterbrained, she gets distracted by Twinkle Park. This leads to her being captured and taken aboard Eggmans ship in hopes Sonic would come and rescue her. But it’s not Sonic that frees her from the cell. Instead, she befriends a robot that seems to be different from the others. She would end up standing up to Sonic to protect the robot from being destroyed.

Now this is where my version sort of veers off though not by much ;

Unlike the Sonic Adventure game ? Amy witnesses Gamma’s death and the events happen similar as the show Sonic X. With Amy witnessing their final battle and seeing, to her horror, the destruction caused. While it helped reunite the family it also meant having to see a robot she befriended sacrifice itself. She was able to say her goodbyes and thank the robot. Knowing, in the end, the sacrifice had to be made to reunite the family even if it was painful.

She’s happy to see them together and walks out onto the deck with them. Only to witness the same robot from earlier ( the one that had kidnapped her ) shoot down the small Flicky much to her horror. Angered, plus not wanting Gammas sacrifice to go in vain, she challenged the robot. Vowing herself that this time she would be the one  laying down her life if need be to keep the Flicky and its family safe.

She takes the robot on with all her might. And manages to win ! Though she doesn’t celebrate much as she worries and frets over if the Flicky was safe. Fearful that it was dead. However, much to her happiness, it’s okay !  She wishes them all well and is happy to see them all together.

Amy realizes, at that moment, she did something on her own. She saved herself, she helped the Flicky, she made a friend of the robot. She vows from that moment on she would do things by herself ! No more waiting for Sonic, no more being the damsel, no more running away ! She was determined to make Sonic realize she could handle herself !

( She also ends up befriending Big & Froggy during this time ).

SONIC SHUFFLE & SONIC ADVANCE TAKE PLACE.

AGE 13 ;

SONIC ADVENTURE 2 TAKES PLACE ;

Amy is stunned to find out Sonic has been captured. She decides, at this moment, she had to free him ! For once she would be the one to save him and not the other way around ! However, it seems no matter what she’s done she’s left behind. She felt as if nobody had faith in her. Everyone kept running away, leaving her behind, acting as if she’s incapable. And she began, in some ways, to feel the same. When she’s held captive by Eggman and watches in horror as Sonic seemingly dies. She blames herself for it. She’s supposed to be strong. And, once again, Sonic saved her ! But this time he’s....dead ! He’s dead ! And it’s HER fault ! She couldn’t even help Tails fight Eggman out of her own grief ! Yet she soon realizes Sonic is alive. Thank goodness.

Amy, along with the others, listens in to the diary that’s being played. Finding out about ‘Maria’ dying, the grief of the man there, and realizing he’s signed a death wish for the Earth. As everyone goes off to help she fnds herself. again, alone. She contemplates this to herself until she sees him -- Shadow, and realizes that while everyone is fighting she’s doing nothing but standing there. She had to help out, do her best, even if it might be futille !

While the events of the game are canon, with Amy going to help out and sticking around, the only thing that differs is her interactions with Shadow.

While in the game the interaction was brief in her helping Shadow remember ? I personally prefer Amy having sort of a similar role to how they did in Sonic X. With an actual back and forth between them that’s tension filled as it shouldn’t have been so easy to trigger Shadows memory after so long.

She ends up mourning Shadows passing yet is glad he was able to fulfill Maria’s final wish. 

SONIC ADVANCE 2 TAKES PLACE ;

Amy meets Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla and begins to form a close-friendship / bond with them all.

AGE 14 ;

SONIC HEROES TAKES PLACE.

SONIC BATTLE TAKES PLACE.

I’m not gonna say much about these two games. Nothing against them but I don’t feel like anything I add will be important. I do, however, dislike how Amy is portrayed in both. And I tend to view this as a time period when Amy thought if she was more ‘aggressive’ and ‘assertive’ that she’d be seen as strong. As she felt that she was seen as weak and dainty beforehand.

Luckily, she grew out of this phase.

( However, she was extremely relieved to find out Shadow was ‘alive’ and was very happy to see him again. )

AGE 15 ;

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG TAKES PLACE.

SONIC ADVANCE 3 TAKES PLACE.

AGE 16 ;

SONIC RIDERS TAKES PLACE.

SONIC RIVALS TAKES PLACE.

AGE 17;

SONIC UNLEASHED TAKES PLACE.

SONIC LOST WORLD TAKES PLACE.

SONIC GENERATIONS TAKES PLACE.

AGE 18 ;

SONIC FORCES / THE IDW COMIC SERIES TAKES PLACE ;

Amy is stunned to find out that Sonic was defeated in battle. But she believes, like always, he will show up eventually. But as time ticks by, months passing and the world under siege, she’s left with this grim realization: he’s not coming back. She ends up joining Knuckles in his Resistance along with a bunch of others. Being forced to grow up more and realize all those ‘fun adventures’ were no longer fun. With it being months after Sonics’ ‘death’ she still longed for him to be alive yet, each time she felt hope, it was dashed by the realistic explanations by the others. It was also hard as, during this time, she had to keep Cream and her mother safe and also help take care of a Tails that was visibly grieving and not in a proper state of mind.

So, upon finding out he’s alive, she’s relieved. Though, upon being able to see him, she does hug him but mostly keeps the warm welcomes for Tails who needs Sonics’ hugs and support more.

She’s a bit surprised to find out, as time passes and they defeat Eggman ( plus begin rebuilding and trying to get the world back to normal ), that her once ‘love’ for Sonic was...diminished. She still loved him. Yet she’s more quiet about it. Just enjoying the fact she has her friend back and wanting to work alongside him to help rebuild and bring happiness to others again. She recognizes that romance isn't a priority in her life anymore and realizes that, perhaps, the world should come first as it’s a place Sonic loves and a place so many people love as well.

She buries herself in work in the resistance and bettering herself physically and mentally. She may still love that hedgehog, in many ways, but she knows that she’s able to enjoy his friendship and decides that she will no longer be chasing after him and focus on herself / her work instead.