Actor Rupert Friend Reveals His 'Passionate, Impulsive' Side

Photography CHARLIE GRAY

Styled by JOSEPH EPISCOPO

As a working actor for two decades and counting, Rupert Friend is no neophyte in the entertainment industry. His role as the CIA operative Peter Quinn in the universally acclaimed thriller series Homeland thrust him into the spotlight in the early 2010s and became his longest-running character. Since then, Friend’s resume and list of accolades have snowballed.

He is a proud member of the eclectic Wes Anderson cinematic universe, including last year’s star-studded comedy Asteroid City, where he played the kingpin of a musical entourage of cowboys. Anderson, who tends to give his actors unlimited freedom to test their abilities, encouraged the same from Friend, who played guitar live in the film. Friend connected with Anderson due to their shared love for the arts, and landed a part in his Academy Award–winning 2023 short film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Friend is also an ambassador for Montblanc, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of its iconic Meisterstück writing instrument, in an ad directed by Anderson. In it, Anderson appears on the summit of Mont Blanc with Friend and Jason Schwartzman, another of Anderson’s go-to actors.

Friend revels in experimenting within a variety of genres, and is driven by opportunities to join forces with accomplished filmmakers, actors, and writers. Read on as Friend talks his upcoming role in the sci-fi thriller Companion (alongside Sophie Thatcher and Lukas Gage) and how he feels joining the Jurassic World franchise for its fourth film installation, to be released next year.

L'OFFICIEL: Why did you decide to become an actor?

Rupert Friend: It's the only job that gives you the chance to live many lives. I knew with certainty since I was a child that I could never do the same job, locked in the same place, surrounded by the same people for years. I was a curious child; it terrified me to think of having to choose one career for life. I was interested in too many things: traveling, meeting people, exploring the world, and becoming someone else. 

L’O: How did your relationship with Wes Anderson begin?

RF: With The French Dispatch. I was terrified but at the same time fascinated. For Wes, there is nothing too small or insignificant; nothing is accidental. His taste, his aesthetic are exemplary. We found ourselves talking for a whole night and realized we had many interests in common; we became friends. When we started shooting Asteroid City, his absolute certainty that I could be convincing in the role of a cowboy made me feel confident. A mutual trust has been established between us, and as far as I'm concerned, I love the process of making a film together with the challenges and satisfactions that it entails. I couldn't have wished for a better match of director and writer. I'll be in his next movie too, but I can't say anything else.

"[Acting] is the only job that gives you the chance to live many lives."

L’O: Before you met Anderson, what was your favorite movie of his?

RF: Fantastic Mr. Fox.

L’O: What do you look for in roles? 

RF: The chance to experiment. The more different the projects they offer me, the better. I don't care about repeating myself. 

L’O: Let's get to Homeland... 

RF: The peculiarity of Homeland is that the script was written during filming, almost in real time. I didn't have a character that I knew from the start how it would end. I was called for an episode, a ten-day thing, and then I was involved for five years. 

L’O: In the sixth season, you found yourself embodying a character who was physically and mentally altered after being in a coma. Was that difficult? 

RF: No, at that point, Peter Quinn and I had shared the same body for years; it was a part of me. A man who has had everything done to him: they tried to drown him, they shot him, he was beaten, he was poisoned, and yet he maintains his unshakable moral integrity. One day I was talking about it with one of the showrunners of the series, and she told me that Quinn was her ideal man. I asked her how she could think that of a killer paid to kill, and she replied that what really mattered to her was his deeply human moral code.

L’O: When will we see you again at the cinema? 

RF: This year, I have two films coming out; one is directed by Michel Franco, and with Jessica Chastain [Dreams]. It is certainly not an easy film, but a powerful, profound one. The other is a film with an ensemble cast [Companion, expected January 2025]; think The Big Chill and Ex Machina, which will prove interesting.

L’O: What other directors would you like to work with?

RF: Darren Aronofsky. I found The Whale an absolute beauty. Paul Thomas Anderson [There Will Be Blood], for everything he does. Jonathan Glazer, who I find fantastic for the Guinness commercials, as well as for Sexy Beast and, of course, for The Zone of Interest.

"My handwriting... I'd say it represents me: it's passionate, impulsive, and not always legible."

L’O: You are an ambassador for Montblanc. Do you have nice handwriting? And what relationship do you have with the brand?

RF: My handwriting... I'd say it represents me: it's passionate, impulsive, and not always legible. I like writing by hand. I like the feeling of my hand on the page rather than my fingers on the keyboard. There is a direct, physiological relationship between hand and heart. Writing by hand changes the way you write, as anyone who writes a letter by hand knows. I like Montblanc because it connects to me. I really love the mountains, I love contact with nature, and I like staying at home and writing. I have been writing since I was too little to make sense of the world. I've been writing screenplays for ten years. Now I'm on the verge of moving to the other side of the camera, of giving life to my words. I've written five screenplays, and three are good enough to get made. 

L’O: Why did you choose to move to the United States? 

RF: It wasn't a decision, but rather an organic evolution: when I arrived in America to shoot Homeland, I didn't know if I would stay ten days or ten years. After my first season in North Carolina, I went to New York, rented an apartment, and started writing. Among the advantages of writing is that I can write anywhere I like. If I played the piano, it would be more complicated. Then I met my wife [Aimee Mullins], and at that point, I didn't want to leave. As the Gnostic gospels say, if you follow your passion, if you try to realize what you believe in, if you recognize what is special in you—and we all have something special—be it astrophysics or meditation, it will save you. If you don't, you will become bitter, angry, and harmful to others, and will end up destroying yourself.

GROOMING: Jennifer Brent TRACEY MATTINGLY AGENCY