Taron Egerton is Taking Off

In his new film Eddie The Eagle, Taron Egerton achieves the impossible making a fluoro onesie look hot. Yep, this is one charming Brit we'd happily 'Netflix and chill' with...

- Lucy Pavia

‘HELLO, HELLO’, TARON EGERTON STRIDES across the tiled floor of Burberry London’s bistro Thomas’s, plonking down his gym bag and ignoring my slightly formal outstretched hand for a friendly bear hug.

He’s arrived for lunch freshly showered after a morning at the gym, where he’s knocking himself back into shape to play council estate kid-turned spy Eggsy in the second instalment of the Kingsman franchise – the role that made him famous. The pre-filming regime demands he lays off the chips, so we order a pair of truffle chicken salads and two pots of regulation movie star mint tea instead.

It is more than two years since we were first introduced to the twinkly-eyed Brit in Matthew Vaughn’s cult spy thriller. The film was a total baptism of fire for a young actor who had never stepped onto a film set before, and it made him a star overnight. It also brought about a friendship with his costar and on-screen mentor Colin Firth. ‘He’s a really funny man. He has this very proper public image but then he’s actually got quite a potty mouth,’ Egerton says. ‘He took the time to invest in me, above and beyond the call of duty.’