Being an actor is far more challenging than one may think. Actor Josh O’Connor has given many notable performances over the past decade but one of his most highly-anticipated films, Challengers, was delayed due to the ongoing Actors and Writers’ strike. To O’Connor, acting is an art. He values the craft so much that he is ready to great lengths in order to keep it intact.
The actor previously revealed that he preferred living in a van because of a strange reason. The actor feels like the lavish life makes him unhappy and in order to continue acting, he needs to stay away from it.
Josh O’Connor prefers to live in a van
Last month, actor Josh O’Connor appeared for an interview with GQ and explained that living in a van is much better than luxurious hotels. He said,
“I remember Luca [Guadagnino] saying to me: ‘Actors are like racehorses: You have to keep them in condition if you want them to run as fast as they can. I think what he means is nice hotels, nice food… but being in a hotel room isn’t the best condition for me. It was so luxurious and I just felt depressed.”
O’Connor further revealed that his dad owned a 1960s VW camper van so, he began his search to find a similar van and stumbled upon Winnie, a van that became essential for his art of acting.
Josh O’Connor is a “shape-shifter“
The director of 2017’s God’s Own Country, Francis Lee, was very impressed by O’Connor’s performance, stating that he is “one of those rare actors that is a real shape-shifter,” because of his ability to completely transform himself into the character he is playing. In a 2017 interview with Interview Magazine, O’Connor talked about the experience of working in God’s Own Country, which is without a doubt, the most iconic movie in his filmography,
“I had my own book of senses – paintings and drawings that I’d done and ideas I had. From there, I worked physically with Francis about how this guy would look. By the end of the film I was so skinny; I was gaunt. It was horrific. I was in character the whole way through. It was really lonely and hard. I don’t think I’d do it again. You isolate yourself from all your friends.”
In the past decade, O’Connor has proved his versatility as an actor with his remarkable performances in many other movies like, Hide and Seek (2014), Only You (2018), and La Chimera (2023). Fans will get to see more of O’Connor in the upcoming movie, Challengers, alongside Zendaya and Mike Fiast. The movie was supposed to be released this month, but due to the Actors and Writers’ strike, the release date has been pushed to April 2024.
Source: GQ
