He is currently showcasing his love of comedy in the HBO Max series “Youth.” It is written by Sharon Horgan, who also stars as newly divorced Alex, who is trying to navigate dating while also taking care of her aging parents and adult son. Rupert Friend plays Patrick, one of the men Alex meets.
This series provides a very interesting insight into a period of a woman's life, he says when TT meets him in a sunny garden during the Venice Film Festival.
Sharon's children have left home, her marriage has fallen apart, and she's starting life as a single woman again. How viable is that? And since Sharon made the series, it's a lot of fun.
“Not particularly mature”
But Rupert Friend also appreciates the series' pathos - and that it explores "a little of the tragedy that biology confronts us with."
I am one of the objects of her infatuation. But I am a love interest who is not very mature and who has not absorbed some of the biological reality. From that arises some tragedy. My hope is that people will see “Youth” as a sugar pill and a tragic comedy.
Rupert Friend likes to jump between genres and between making films and television.
I'm lucky to have been invited to a lot of different "parties," whether it's comedy or drama or a franchise or TV or film, and whether it's a villain or a hero. People want to see me in different contexts and it's very flattering. It's awesome for an actor to get those opportunities, because it's so easy to become a stereotype.
Not politically correct
But if there's anything he wants to do more of, it's comedies.
"I like Monty Python humor, or movies like the ones Martin McDonagh and Yorgos Lanthimos make. They take serious subjects and then turn them upside down in a non-politically correct way," he says.
Rupert Friend played his most famous role to date in the highly successful television series "Homeland".
How does it feel today when it's as if we're in "Homeland" - but even worse?
It's strange that ten years later it feels relevant and current. History repeats itself.
Age: 44 years.
Family: Wife Aimee Mullins and a daughter.
Lives: In London.
Occupation: Actor.
Previous roles in selection: “The Libertine”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Chéri”, “Young Victoria”, “Homeland”, “The Death of Stalin”, “The French Dispatch”, “Asteroid City”, “The Phoenician Scheme”, “Jurassic World: Rebirth”.
Current: In "Youth" on HBO Max.
