21 star Jim's still an unknown, but not for very much longer
British actor Jim Sturgess adopts an American accent — and an American hangout — in 21, a based-on-a-true-story thriller set in Boston and Las Vegas. Screenjabber's Boston correspondent Tenley Woodman caught up with him between takes.
While preparing to play a member of the real-life student card-counting team that took Las Vegas casinos for millions, Jim Sturgess spent a lot of time in Boston. As if that wasn't cool enough, he received a tutorial on Boston college life from Harvard graduate Natalie Portman.
“She came and visted me we hung out. She took me to a frat party,” says Sturgess, 26, who played George Boleyn to Portman's Anne in The Other Boleyn Girl. Some would have been fazed by the celebrity attention, but not Sturgess. “All I remember is there was this giant bear in this hall and I think I hung my coat on it,” he says of his initiation into the city's student scene.
21 is based Ben Mezrich's best-selling book Bringing Down the House, which documents how students at the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), one of America's most prestigious schools, were able to outsmart Las Vegas casinos with their mathematical know-how. Is he into cards now that he’s portrayed a blackjack ace? “Only cards with my own face on it,” he jokes. “No, I haven’t played since we finished the movie. I think we played enough blackjack making the movie. I’m looking forward to going back to Vegas, actually. I spent enough time away from it to go back.”
And what, I ask him, was it like working with Kevin Spacey, who is one of the film's producers as well as one of its stars? “He hasn’t asked me to be in any of his plays!” Sturgess says of Spacey’s work with the Old Vic. “I got a phone call from him when he discovered I was playing the part. He invited me down to the Old Vic and I saw his play. It was nice of him to call me and hang out with him.”
Sturgess, who recently appeared in Across the Universe knew nothing of Boston's esteemed academic history or reputation before landing on set. But, in true British fashion, he soon got into the groove —– thanks to a local bar.
“We hung out at Whiskey's on Boylston Street,'” Sturgess says of the popular student haunt. “It was right around the corner from the hotel. We would go there a lot actually. It was really important for us to have a base. That became our local hangout.” For now, despite appearances in the above films (not to mention, er, an episode of Heartbeat), Jim can still escape public attention, particularly at home in London. “I'm completely unknown,” he says of his native England, particularly around Camden where the packs of paparazzi are more interested in his troubled neighbour, Amy Winehouse.
“I've seen it happen to other people. It's a problem. It's a strange relationship that goes on between the media and celebrity.” For now though, Jim can enjoy a pint in peace — although we suspect that his anonymity won't last much longer.
• 21 is now showing across the UK ... and you can read our review HERE
And you can listen to our audio interview with Kevin Spacey HERE