Vogue UK - March 2020

GU

TT

ER

C

RE

DIT

H

ER

E^ L

IKE

Callum Turner is Britain’s new

leading man, says Sirin Kale.

Photograph by Paul Wetherell.

Styling by Julia Brenard

And for his

next turn

MR VOGU E

C

allum Turner is a curious mix. Humble and

self-effacing, he’s also utterly assured. It’s a

contradiction that plays out in his face: those

far-apart eyes connoting childlike vulnerability,

that smirking comma of a mouth.

At 29, the British actor is putting that unusual

alchemy to good use. He’s played wizard Theseus

Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,

Russian aristocrat Anatole Kuragin in War & Peace,

and is freshly triumphant from his lead as soldier Shaun

Emery in 2019’s BBC drama series The Capture.

“I wanna do it all,” Turner says, sitting in an empty

photographic studio after his Vogue shoot, a chill light

streaming in through the window. Every role he takes

on is director-based, which is how he found himself

in Autumn de Wilde’s much-hyped adaptation of Jane

Austen’s Emma. “Autumn’s trying to do something

completely different with the genre,” the actor explains.

“It’s a physical film.” In one scene, his character – the

dashing but flighty Frank Churchill – has to carry

Harriet Smith, played by Mia Goth. De Wilde wanted

audiences to see Frank’s exertion, so Turner decided

to bench-press Goth between takes. “Mia’s face,” he

laughs. “Her eyes were bulging!”

The antithesis of the Eton-educated Cambridge

Footlights crew, Callum – son of New Romantic club

promoter Rosemary Turner – grew up on a London

council estate, and, after being scouted at 17, did a

stint as a model. “I wasn’t that successful,” he says

modestly, despite appearing in two Burberry campaigns.

Turner appears unbothered by the accoutrements

of celebrity, too. After our interview, he’s due at his

aunt’s 50th, then out clubbing with friends from

school. He was previously dating The Crown actor

Vanessa Kirby, but won’t be drawn on his romantic

life. “As long as I keep working with good people,

that’s all that matters.” Callum Turner: the unstarriest

rising star you’ll ever meet. n

Emma is in cinemas from 14 February

Wool poloneck, £165,

John Smedley, at Mrporter.

com. Trousers, £1,900

as part of suit, Dior.

DI Grooming: Matt Mulhall

GI

TA

L^ A

RT

WO

RK

:^ R

AB

BIT

RE

TO

UC

HI

NG

03-20-FOB-MrVogue_1715273.indd 219 17/12/2019 15:49

219