NOA FISCHER: Tyler, how are you?

TYLER CONTI: I’m well, Noa. How are you?

NF: I’m terrific. I’m in Croatia. Back home. I’m in a bit of a ridiculous environment — it’s a half-deserted island that my parents came to years ago. You can tell I’m in a bungalow. I love it. 

TC: You’re from Croatia then?

NF: I am from Croatia. I was going to say, don’t mind the AK-47s. They’re purely decorative, from the war. Just don’t let them distract you.

TC: I feel so plain and boring. 

NF: Where are you? Are you in London?

TC: I’m in North London.

NF: Are you from London?

TC: Originally, I’m from Essex, but I’ve lived in London for about 12 years now.

NF: Essex is having its little moment, I have to say — a lot of artists are coming out of it and going big.

TC: Do you know what? It’s funny, because I spent so long in my late teens and early twenties kind of rejecting Essex. I think when I was growing up, being from Essex was such a huge thing — I don’t know if you know that. Essex. I also used to work at Sugar Hut as well, and that was like the hub — I used to wait tables and work behind the bar when I was like 16. So it kind of was something that I really wanted to reject and push away, because I thought there was no chance of me becoming a serious actor if I had this kind of Essex background. And now it’s like — it’s cool, it’s like, remember where you came from, and your background holds so much weight, and you shouldn’t throw it away. So it’s nice.

NF: I think this is kind of atypical, that we’re so close to the release date. We’re 48 hours away from The Gentlemen coming out. So how are you feeling?

TC: You know, I feel like it’s always such a weird time — I find the talk and the hype about things so heavy and so loud, and actually all that happens is time passes and something’s on TV that wasn’t there before. So it always feels a bit — in a really nice way — quite anticlimactic. 

NF: How long has it been since you filmed it?

TC: I’m going to say September last year, maybe a year, then. Because I had Fightland and The Gentlemen actually crossed over by one day — the day I finished The Gentlemen, I started Fightland. So yeah, I think it was maybe September, maybe even October.

NF: Are you usually an impatient person?

TC: I’m the worst. It’s like, ​“that’ll be out next year,” and I’m like, what? That’s so long.I’m not the best at being patient, as my girlfriend would probably tell you. But, you know, all good things come to those who wait, apparently. 

NF: You keep mentioning Kaya, and obviously, I grew up with Skins, I’m assuming you did too — I wanted to know what your early influences were, and how insane it was to work with some of these people so early in your career.

TC: Yeah, absolutely nuts. When Skins first came out — I remember it, I have an older brother, and I think the show was more directed at his age. I was probably like 12 or 13 — the dangerous age — and my brother was going out partying, 15 or 16, and stuff. So I remember saying goodnight to my mum, and I’d have a little TV in my bedroom, and I’d turn it as low as possible so no one could hear me, but I could hear my brother also watching it — because he was allowed to — and I just watched Skins. I think it probably had some pretty bad but also fun influences on me. And the cast is phenomenal — everyone’s done so well, blown up so far, so huge. So when I found out I got The Gentlemen and was working with ​“Effy” — I couldn’t believe it. Thirteen-year-old Tyler would be in his underwear in his bedroom watching Skins with the TV turned down, and then — I found out I got the job, and my agent was like, ​“You’ve got an intimacy call with Kaya, the next day.” When things move so quickly, it was like, ​“You’ve got the job.” ​“Okay, cool.” ​“You start filming in two weeks. Kaya’s going to give you a call, she’s got your number, she’ll call you tomorrow.” And you’re like, right, okay, this is nuts, this is wild.

NF: Thinking of Kaya and Skins, the thing that comes to mind is — I remember the story goes that she lied to the casting director, saying she was 16 when she was 14. Do you have any crazy casting calls and experiences that catapulted your career?

TC: Ooh, that’s a good question. I don’t know — God, you put me on the spot here. The Gentlemen was just from a tape — my mate and I run a self-tape studio in North London, and The Gentlemen tape came through, and I was like, this is a good one — I rang my mate, saying I’ve got a good one here, I want to spend some real, serious time on it. So we spent like five hours in the studio perfecting it. We made it the most cinematic tape you could possibly imagine — we wanted Guy Ritchie to watch it and think, we don’t even need to shoot this, we could just use this tape and stick it in the show. Oh, actually — to be fair, when I go into auditions, I’m always trying to eat. 

NF: What, like Brad Pitt?

TC: Exactly. For Fightland, I had a huge bag of popcorn and I was just trying to shovel it into my face, and they’re always a little bit like, ​“What the hell is this kid doing?” But if it makes sense for the scene and the character’s in an environment to do that, I think it lives in the world a little bit more. It’s always funny — I had Jaffa Cakes and popcorn for the Fightland audition.

NF: What’s your go-to movie snack now, while we’re on the topic?

TC: Just salted popcorn, and then I open up some chocolate Minstrels.

NF: What I’m hearing is you take your time during an audition and you like to eat, you like to carb-load. Also, having a flick through your Instagram, I noticed that you’re quite the runner yourself — I want to know how the two complement each other.

TC: Yeah, they complement each other well, because I do a lot of exercise, so I can eat what the hell I want — I don’t want to be restricted at all. But also I feel like I’m a bit addicted to exercise. I do triathlons — I’ve done a full-distance Ironman, I’ve done a long cycle, Liverpool to Paris — for charity. And then I also had one planned for next year, but I couldn’t do it because I was filming The Gentlemen, so I had to push it back. But next year I’m looking to cycle from London to Istanbul for Women’s Aid UK, which would be really fun. 

NF: What was your sport of choice as a kid?

TC: I was so bad at sports. I’ve got two left feet. I went to a stag do this weekend and we played footgolf, and it was really embarrassing — I lost, I came last out of about 12 people. I was so bad. I was the captain of a football team, but — I know this is contradictory to what I just said — we were division five, bottom of the league, and we were just there for the banter, and we lost every single game. And I remember always winning ​“Players’ Player” — you know, the award the players give…

NF: Oh, it’s the charm that got you.

TC: Yeah, never Man of the Match. I think it was just the rest of the team going, ​“oh, he tries, doesn’t he, he gives it a go — let’s give him that award.”

NF: You literally got an A for effort.

TC: Exactly. But I don’t think I ever scored any goals or really motivated the team as captain.

NF: What do you think makes somebody charismatic? 

 TC: I think just an openness, like a willingness to be a bit vulnerable and honest. It’s so funny, because I’m an actor obviously, but I really struggle with people who have masks on, who want to present something they think you want to see. That’s not to slam those people, because I think we all do it through insecurities or worries or previous trauma or whatever. I’m usually charmed by people when they present their authentic, honest selves, and then we can just have a lovely back-and-forth chat.

NF: So, dare I say, the opposite of the Guy Ritchie archetype — because I want to give you a quote, I won’t say from where, in case you have a certain distaste for it: Guy Ritchie has created a very specific male archetype across his films — charming, dangerous, impeccably dressed, and slightly ridiculous. What do you think makes a Guy Ritchie man? 

TC: Yeah, I do think that’s spot on. I think it’s multiple layers, and honestly, I think it’s the opposite of what I’ve just described in a person I’d like to hang out with, or call charming — I think it’s a false charm. I often think, speaking from experience of the character I play in The Gentlemen, it’s this level of constantly putting masks on — and somewhere deep down, that character’s inner child is screaming out, and this person is a wounded, toxic guy, and it’s all about holding onto power that they’ve lied and said they’ve managed to get. It’s really fun to watch, because it creates conflict, it creates character. I absolutely love reality TV — Love Is Blind, Love Island — because we see the struggle, especially in men, when they’re wounded, because the show puts them in these horrendous places, and rather than go, ​“That really hurt me. I feel wounded.How can I deal with this?” they’re like, ​“That didn’t hurt me,” and they go a little bit harder, a little bit stronger, to protect themselves. It’s kind of like that, but with the Guy Ritchie world, there’s class and charm and their idea of charm and their layers, trying to get away from that feeling as best they can, in this ultra-cool, manly way.

NF: Is Joe going to be more sophisticated?

TC: I wouldn’t call him sophisticated — he’s like an East End cockney geezer. He comes from a kind of coke-dealing dynasty. There’s a real mix with him, because he has that toxic trait, and maybe I’d say a little-man-syndrome-type thing — he’s got a lot to prove. When he’s put in front of someone like Eddie, he wants to prove himself, or is intimidated, so he has to shine bigger. But at the same time, in the relationship he has with Susie, Kaya’s character, I think we do see a softer, more vulnerable, caring side. So there’s a real mix.

NF: I’m getting the sense that the characters you play, you consider more like a friend — as you said, you have empathy for them, and you explore and embody them rather than something coming from within.

TC: I have to put myself in those shoes, because the feeling is only ever going to come from within — the research and stuff comes from outside, and I can do as much of that as I can, but then I ask myself those questions: if my parents left me at a young age, how would I feel, what emotions would that bring up? And when I feel those emotions, I put them on a mannequin and build the character up from there — so it’s not necessarily hitting my own feelings, my emotions, or my lived experiences.

NF: What was more intimidating — playing such an established character as Heathcliff or playing at the Globe, an environment that’s notorious in itself?

TC: Probably Heathcliff, because we did some performances in Yorkshire, and I had a girlfriend at the time who was from the depths of Yorkshire, and all her family came to watch — and to them it’s such an important, well-known story, they’d go around the moors, and I felt like doing a traditional Yorkshire, northern play, with the main character being a young boy from Essex, there was a lot of pressure to deliver. When I performed at the Globe, I was nervous, but there wasn’t necessarily much pressure — I felt like a Shakespearean rock star. The Globe itself is nuts — one of my scenes, you’ve got the pit, the yard where everyone stands, and my character pushes past everyone, runs through the audience and jumps up on stage, and I remember being like — it was one of the most incredible feelings ever, because you feel amongst the audience, part of the audience, and then to just go, ​“Right, I’m getting up” — it was an electric feeling. 

NF: A lot of actors seem to have an insatiable impulse to try their hand at directing. I feel like that’s a common trend. I want to know why you think that is, and do you have the same impulse?

TC: You’ve got a director who comes from a technical side so they know exactly how they want it to look, they look at it shot by shot, they know what take they’re going to use, how they want the scene set up, the lights, everything — and they work their way into being the director. Or you become creative in the sense of feeling, or thinking, or a more holistic, movement-based approach, more like an actor, and you move into that space. I love working with both, but as an actor, I want to work with a director who understands actors, because I think I’ll give my best work. You get excited when you talk about a character, when you talk about the reasons why, and explore different environments or upbringings for your character. I think that really helps if you’re a director. 

NF: Is there a directorial note that sticks out, that Guy gave you during season two, or maybe even at the beginning, that helped you tune yourself to that highly developed frequency?

TC: Yeah, I think there are two moments. The first scene I do, I’m in my underwear — literally, in my underwear, a great way to start — so that was super intense. It was me, Guy Ritchie, Kaya, and about a hundred crew members, and he — I can’t even specifically remember what it was, it probably meant absolutely nothing to him, he was probably being off-the-cuff, whatever — but he said something like, ​“He looks good,” and I remember thinking, I’m keeping that with me for the rest of my life. Most Charming Player, once again — he thinks I look good in my underwear. He probably wasn’t even talking to me, probably talking to his mate next to him. But at that moment I was like, I’ve got this. And then another one was a scene with me and Kaya, and it was actually so good, because I think you’ll find a lot of directors are a little worried about how to approach an actor, giving them a specific note, not wanting to offend. And I always say, if I ever get the chance to meet a director before shooting, I want you to be as blunt, as truthful, as honest with me as possible — if something’s shit, it’s shit. Tell me that, because that’s how I work. I don’t think that’s necessarily good for everyone else, but I want to know what ballpark we’re in. One of Guy’s notes was, ​“Yeah, that was perfect, just 15 percent less.” And it was so simple — I was like, okay, cool, that’s great, that makes so much sense to me. It’s specific, it’s something I can actually action, not some convoluted, weird note. It was just, let’s bring it down a little bit — and that’s what you want as an actor: to go bigger and then be asked to pull it back, rather than being too little and having to make it bigger.