ARMIE HAMMER

He can play matinee idol with his eyes closed, but Armie Hammer is more intrigued by exploring the darkness beneath the surface these days. As he hits both the big and small screen this winter with Rebecca and Death On The Nile, he tells Total Film about embracing his fears…

- JANE CROWTHER

A HUGE PART OF THE JOB IS TO LOOK HANDSOME, KNOW YOUR ANGLES… THAT’S NOT WHAT’S INTERESTING TO ME

Armie Hammer is an attractive, personable man. Ask any of his colleagues about him and they talk about his towering frame, good looks and charm (“he exudes this extraordinary presence, and you think: ‘God – matinee idol!’” says his Rebecca costar Kristin Scott Thomas, while Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino describes him as “this dashing golden boy”). To watch him stride about the Hatfield House set of Ben Wheatley’s new take on Daphne du Maurier’s classic gothic romance, Rebecca – 6’5” of black tie elegance, warmly chatting with everyone and letting out head-back laughs – is to see that persona in action.

It’s a definition Hammer, 34, has got used to after a 15-year career playing leading men since his breakout role(s) in The Social Network. But it’s also one that he’s working his damnedest on subverting. Over a series of chats with TF during 2020’s weird summer, where the actor called in from a July road trip in Monument Valley, from LA in August and from a September visit to his grandparents in Dallas, it’s clear that what really drives him is a desire to challenge both himself and audiences, as well as a belief in the power of unvarnished hard graft. (He’s extended that artistic industriousness to physical toil too, having spent two months of lockdown working in construction.)