Cinema, look upon your future king. The man you see above — whose head is so full of important thoughts that he has to prop it up at all times with a spare hand — is Douglas Booth, the 21-year-old star of Julian Fellowes’s upcoming big-screen adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. Booth recently spoke to the Evening Standard about his blossoming career, and the resulting profile (published in last weekend’s ES Magazine) was puffier than Sean Combs.
If you missed it, these five quotes should tell you everything you need to know:
‘Douglas Booth doesn’t want to talk about the way he looks. He doesn’t want to talk about his razor-sharp cheekbones, almond eyes, meaty lips and perfect quiff, let alone what his body’s like. He says he’d rather talk about Shakespeare.’He goes on to explain that, “five days is the extent of my modelling career, compared to the years I’ve spent slaving on a film set”. To date, Douglas Booth’s resumé lists five films, if you include two TV movies, the unreleased Hunters of the Kahri and the Miley Cyrus vehicle LOL.
‘The current crop of young British thesps — most of whom will be appearing with Booth in Posh next year — not only work together, they hang out and date each other, too. They’ve been dubbed the ‘corset crew’, and although Booth dismisses the term he concedes that the acting scene is like ‘a little family’. They used to frequent Bungalow 8 before it closed but are now more likely to be found eating eggs royale at the Wolseley, or strolling from Bocca Di Lupo across to the National Theatre to size up each other’s performances.’FYI — if you’re thinking of joining the corset crew, bear in mind that eggs royale at the Wolseley will set you back £14.50.
‘[Booth recalls], “I had an invitation in the post the other day: ‘Anna Wintour invites you to a dinner in honour of Benedict Cumberbatch’. At first I thought it was hilarious, and then I thought, “Ben’s doing well!”‘That’s Douglas Booth, star of LOL, talking about Olivier Award winner, 4-time BAFTA nominee, and star of Peter Jackson’s $560-million dollar Hobbit franchise, Benedict Cumberbatch.
He’s having a tough time explaining it all to his friends who are still at university. “They’ll say: ‘Mate! Last night we went out in Leeds and got so messed up!” And I’m like, ‘Yeah… last night I was in New York with Hilary Clinton.”Nice of him to keep his old friends in the loop even after their paths have diverged.
But any kind of fame will come at a price, and he knows it. “The other day I stopped in Piccadilly and sat on the Eros statue, just taking in London and the sights and sounds, and thought, ‘One day soon this is going to be impossible.’”Help set that day back a little further by not seeing Romeo & Juliet, in cinemas this Friday.