One Day star Jim Sturgess has admitted that he found early fame in Hollywood, and everything that came with it, “a bit scary”.
The British actor, 47, found fame after he was cast in 2007 musical romance Across the Universe opposite Evan Rachel Wood. The role led to a slew of big movies for Sturgess in the immediate years afterwards, including casino thriller 21, survival drama The Way Back, David Nicholls adaptation One Day and sci-fi movie Cloud Atlas.
Speaking in a new interview in The Guardian, Sturgess described how he found the attention overwhelming.
“I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he said. “I was just a kid from England, playing in bands – and suddenly this movie thing happened. Everything changed quite quickly. I didn’t really understand how to navigate myself through all that.
“I didn’t have anybody guiding me. I’d be invited to these big parties, but I would always not go. It was a bit scary, it feels a bit mad.”
Sturgess also recalled how, at the premiere for 21, which was held in Las Vegas, his face was plastered across billboards on the Strip and on the blackjack tables at hotels.
Talking about his relationship with fame now, he said: “It is easier. I was definitely more famous when I was younger and, sometimes, I wish I’d enjoyed it a bit more. But I shied away from fame a lot. I had it at an arm’s length.
“And, looking back, I think I would have got more out of it if I opened myself up to it and embraced it, if I wasn’t quite so wary of it all.”
Sturgess said that these days, he is recognised “just enough that I’m quite flattered when it happens”.
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The actor can currently be seen in the BBC Two romance series Mix Tape, about two childhood sweethearts who reunite after 20 years. The role follows recent film parts in horror Apartment 7A and Covid drama Alone Together.
