Johnny Flynn

Johnny Flynn: ‘I feel I need to do things with urgency’

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The British musician and actor discusses his latest lead roles – in dark thriller Cordelia and the Bowie biopic Stardust

He’s an actor equipped with “weapons grade animal magnetism” (according to the Observer’s critic Mark Kermode). Over the past decade or so, he has steadily built an enviable CV across film, TV and theatre, flitting seamlessly from edgy contemporary thrillers to classy period adaptations. He’s also a singer and band leader, who has topped off a role in a forthcoming David Bowie biopic by writing and performing a new “Bowie” song. Is there anything Johnny Flynn can’t do?

Chat shows, he says, without missing a beat. “I’m very shy and I get quite overwhelmed. I’ve turned things down in the past on the premise that when the film comes out I’ll have to go on one and I can’t do it! I’ve got over that a little bit, but I’ve been very wary of that type of notoriety.”

His latest film, Cordelia, is a stylish exercise in chamber noir, directed by Adrian Shergold, which puts Flynn’s charisma to use in subverting the comforting stereotypes of boy and girl next door. The eponymous Cordelia (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is suffering from a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and initially Frank seems just the friend she needs. But for all his friendly, easy-going veneer, he speaks with a slightly lingering intimacy that sends shivers up the back of your neck.

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Sir Anthony Hopkins & Johnny Flynn Play The Same Role In New Drama ‘One Life’

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Anthony Hopkins and Johnny FlynnThe TV feature tells the story of humanitarian Nicholas George Winton.

The story of humanitarian Nicholas George Winton, who helped save hundreds of children from the Nazis before World War Two, is the subject of a brand new TV drama. One Life stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn as the real-life hero, both of whom will portray the role of Winton throughout different stages of his life. If you’re hoping to find out more about this poignant new series, here’s everything you need to know.

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Johnny Flynn on the Hackney Marshes

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Johnny Flynn is a talented stage and screen actor who is also a wonderful musician. You may have heard his theme tune for the brilliant TV comedy Detectorists, or seen him on the big screen in the recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, or on stage alongside Sir Mark Rylance in the acclaimed play “Jerusalem”.

In our first post lockdown episode, Johnny takes Matthew Bannister for a walk on the Hackney Marshes, a huge expanse of public land which has no fewer than 88 football pitches alongside a nature reserve which has grown up in disused gravel pits.

As well as singing his distinctive, haunting songs, Johnny relates his near miss with a bear on the Camino to Santiago and talks about his friendship with the nature writer Robert Macfarlane. He tells Matthew about his father – who was an actor and singer – about his own boyhood experiences of being a choral scholar at Winchester and the revelation of discovering Bob Dylan’s music as a teenager.

On song writing, Johnny says “It’s easier to produce complex music, but much harder to make music that sounds just right in its simplicity”.