Josh O’Connor wants to move to the countryside.
The ‘Crown’ actor is currently living in north London with his partner Margot Hauer-King but is keen to get out of the city and admitted his recent 30th birthday has added some urgency to his plans.
He said: "Ultimately, I want to live in the countryside. It’s what I’m used to. I feel more comfortable there. Suddenly, turning 30, it’s like, ‘What am I waiting for?’ Now I feel I’ve got to get on with it."
Josh has found the lockdown period amid the coronavirus pandemic to have been "really healthy and productive" and hopes it will encourage people to take more "pauses" in their lives.
He told Britain’s Esquire magazine: "I hope that for many people it’s taught us that pausing can be really healthy and productive … I’m trying to be positive!"
After graduating from theatre school at the age of 21, the ‘God’s Own Country’ star struggled to find work for long periods, but he thinks he is "extremely lucky" to have had to wait for success.
He said: "I think I’ve been extremely lucky to have had the slower build. Actors who go from drama school to overnight [success], I always think that must be so hard."
Whenever he lands a new role, Josh creates a scrapbook for each character, and so to play Prince Charles in ‘The Crown’, he bought a school uniform, which he deliberately dirtied, and also the "oakiest" aftershave he could find.
He explained: "I went on the website and ordered the most public school shorts I could find. Crispy white shorts. I got those, and I soaked them in mud and left them in a sports bag for a week and cut out the material and stuck that in.
"I get quite experimental. It’s purely for me, no one ever sees [the scrapbooks].
"I bought some aftershave, the oakiest one I could find, the most Charles-y one I could imagine, and sprayed that in the book. Maybe it’s kind of over the top and maybe it doesn’t help me at all but I do it for fun, so who cares?
"It’s how we experience life, isn’t it. Senses trigger emotional responses and memories.
"With any character, you’re trying to create something that isn’t just a performance, something as vivid as possible."
The September/October issue of Esquire UK is on sale now, and the full interview with Josh O’Connor can be found at https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a33572612/josh-oconnor-interview-the-crown/