Sam Riley: On Control, Cornwall And Keeping His Privacy
Reader's Digest UK|February 2023
Simon Button talks to the Yorkshire actor about playing Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, filming She Is Love on the south coast, and living a family life in Berlin
Simon Button
Sam Riley: On Control, Cornwall And Keeping His Privacy

SAM RILEY IS happy that the public doesn't know much about his personal life beyond the fact that he lives in Berlin, is married to Romanian-German actress Alexandra Maria Lara and that they have a young son named Ben.

"My wife is a very well-known actor in Germany but they don't have the same culture of scrutiny," says the West Yorkshire-born actor, who met Alexandra when she played a journalist in his screen debut Control in 2007. "Fame is not something either of us has courted because it's a double-edged sword. There are a lot of good actors who are successful but who you don't know very much about at all."

Sam smiles, seemingly forgetting the blockbuster success of the two Maleficent films he has appeared in. "Plus I've never really been in anything that millions of people have seen."

The small, independent drama She Is Love is more typical of his CV, although it pushed him far beyond his comfort zone. It was largely improvised. "It gave me the fear," he admits. "I'd never done anything like it and just before filming started, I started panicking because I realised I'd have to use an awful lot of myself. You're always using something of yourself as an actor, but you're usually hiding behind the dialogue."

In the film, which was directed by Jamie Adams, Sam plays a musician and hotelier in Cornwall whose relationship with his girlfriend Louise (Marisa Abela) is disrupted by the arrival of his ex-wife Patricia (Haley Bennett).

A sometime musician himself, Riley notes: "I realised Jamie had based it on a version of me. There wasn't really a character there, just the fact Idris was a musician. The first thing I had to do was dance like an idiot behind mixing desks in front of complete strangers and I thought, I'm just going to have to completely give in to this and try not to be vain!"

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2023-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2023-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS READER'S DIGEST UKAlle anzeigen
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Reader's Digest UK

EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.

time-read
3 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
May Fiction
Reader's Digest UK

May Fiction

An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month

time-read
1 min  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Wine Not
Reader's Digest UK

Wine Not

In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food

time-read
3 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Train Booking Hacks
Reader's Digest UK

Train Booking Hacks

With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices

time-read
4 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Reader's Digest UK

JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN

Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again

time-read
8 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
My Britain: Cheltenham
Reader's Digest UK

My Britain: Cheltenham

A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!

time-read
6 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Reader's Digest UK

GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB

Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
Reader's Digest UK

Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant

After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”

time-read
3 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Reader's Digest UK

Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World

Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here

time-read
3 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Stand Tall, Ladies
Reader's Digest UK

Stand Tall, Ladies

Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?

time-read
3 Minuten  |
Reader's Digest May 2024