A Villain, a Vampire and Some Whiskey: Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Dark Winter
Aaron Taylor Johnson likes to do his research.
“Things come about, and I go, 'I really want to know more about this thing that I'm getting behind and standing by,'” the actor tells me over the phone from his home.
He's simultaneously speaking about signing up to star in a new commercial for Jameson whiskey, directed by the Oscar-nominated Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, and next month's Kraven the Hunter, the latest movie in Sony's Spider-Man universe.
We start with the former, since the ad has just launched.
“I went out to Dublin, to the original founding distillery," he says, sincerely passionate about his partnership with the 244-year-old merrymaker. "I love Ireland; it's such a beautiful country; the people there are so lovely."
He also went down to Cork, where he met the master blender behind the brand's triple-distilled blend, Black Barrel.
Whilst on the professional booze trail, the 34-year-old discovered his ethos aligned with the whiskey label's.
“Jameson brings prestige. It’s elevated, but doesn't take itself too seriously.”
Enter Yorgos Lanthimos, the ultimate purveyor of highbrow silliness.
When the acclaimed director was brought on to orchestrate the ad, Taylor-Johnson felt “very humbled and grateful”. He has been a long-time admirer of Lanthimos' commitment to “stand-alone storytelling” through films that have a “unique quality and style”.
It's a curious point of view for a man whose next movie is Kraven the Hunter.
That film, directed by J.C. Chandor, about the morally complicated Marvel villain, is set in the same Spidey-centric (yet currently Spider-Man-less) universe as the Venom trilogy, Morbius and Madame Web.
Having said that, he's confident Kraven “doesn't have to be attached to whatever's been out there already,” dispelling the notion that Dakota Johnson's web connects them all.
“I think this is a standalone movie, dude.”
That's not to say there won't be a sequel. And if there is to be one...
“There's a brilliant comic book [series] called Kraven's Last Hunt.”
I'm all ears, as both interviewer and superhero nerd.
“It's quite a shocking comic book to have come out at the time [1987]. He basically battles with depression. Nothing's good enough, right? And I'm fascinated by that. I would love to explore that.”
Returning to the role of the Russian barbarian Kraven would mean another bulk, as he’s since slimmed down and leaned out.
“I'm on a whole other regime right now,” he reveals.
Taylor-Johnson is currently working on Blood on Snow, an adaptation of the Jo Nesbo crime thriller, co-starring Tom Hardy, and directed by Cary Fukunaga.
"It's set in the Seventies, in Oslo, it's a completely different look.”
He went from his Bullet Train size of 155 pounds up to 200 for Kraven, to properly serve the Marvel fanbase who’ve been waiting decades for this character to be portrayed on the silver screen. It has to be a visual thing from the get-go. "You look at this character in a comic book and he's got arms the size of my thighs.”
I tell him from what I've seen of the movie, his arms look super swole to me.
We laugh, before the High Wycombe-born pin-up does that very British thing of deflecting the praise by throwing the focus onto another, his (often) gigantic former co-star, Chris Hemsworth: “I mean [...] he definitely had arms the size of my thighs.”
Being at his physical peak during shooting was requisite for reasons beyond his appearance. “We shot [Kraven] in the streets. We had action running through London, and flying off helicopters. We were in and out of the River Thames. I was running across northern Iceland with the northern lights shining above my head. We were barefoot in the snow. We were out in the anicent forests of Europe.”
Why?
“We were really trying to give you gritty, earthy realism in this comic book world,” says the seasoned supe, star of Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age of Ultron. (No, he doesn't want to see Quicksilver – the speedster he played in the 2015 team-up flick – fight Kraven in an upcoming instalment of the MCU's multiversal saga, in case you're wondering.)
“It felt so grounded, it's heavy-handed, it's an R-rated action, and at the helm is a gangster story. How fun is that? To take a Spider-Man villain and ground it in the now. I'm very lucky to be with great filmmakers at the moment, with interesting characters and just having fun and exploring.”
More upcoming projects include Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later and David MacKenzie's Fuze.
And before those, Nosferatu – a remake of the 1922 silent German film which centres on a vampire in Transylvania, which comes out early next year.
He was actually just at a press junket for the film before our call, with Emma Corrin, Lily-Rose Deep, Nicholas Hoult – he opines the film features Hoult's best-ever performance – and the film's director, Robert Eggers.
The opportunity to work with the American filmmaker is ultimately what convinced him to join the Universal picture.
“He was the huge draw,” confesses Taylor-Johnson.“He's a filmmaker I've admired and been waiting in line to work with. He reached out and I didn't even know I was on his radar.”
He was also charmed by the experiential crossover between him and his character, Friedrich.
“I play this family man, Emma and I are a married couple, and he very much just wants to protect his family, hold onto them through this wave of fear and darkness that comes through. It reminded me very much of the pandemic – holding my family together, my kids. It's just a small sub-plot but it feels like they're the bedrock of light in the movie: they're like the contrast of the darkness that's happening.”
As for the core narrative: “It's a very metaphorical story for love and, you know, locking away shame and trauma and bringing it into your adult life and battling with that. Coming to terms with that and having to address your demons.”
Taylor-Johnson, as always, completely understands the story he’s telling.
The Greatest Story Almost Told film by Yorgos Lanthimos for Jameson Black Barrel is out now.
Kraven the Hunter releases nationwide on Friday 13 December 2024.
Nosferatu hits UK cinemas on Friday 3 January 2025.
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