MR. JONES - JAMES NORTON INTERVIEW

James Norton in, Mr. Jones

Keep your eyes peeled for the next up and coming British star to make a splash here in North America.

James Norton is known mainly in the U.K. for his memorable performances in shows like Happy Valley, Grantchester and McMafia. He also had a small role in last years hit, Little Women opposite Emma Watson.

Now Norton can be seen in the lead role in, Mr. Jones. It’s a drama set in the 1930’s based on real life Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who travels to Moscow to uncover the truth behind the propaganda that Hitler and Stalin are pushing on the eve of World War II. Willing to go to any lengths on his life-or-death journey, Jones sets out to uncover an international conspiracy.

Norton with director Agnieszka Holland

The movie is directed by filmmaker Agnieszka Holland who Norton was in awe of working with.

Norton had not known much about the time period and did some extensive research for the role. Director Agnieszka Holland and writer Andrea Chalupa were both very well versed on this period, especially Andrea because she was in touch with the Jones family and had private emails and correspondences with them. He had the incredible resource of garethjones.org, a website that was set up by his family, with all the letters, notebooks, etc.

I spoke with James via ZOOM from his home in London about working on this film and what his upcoming TV series for HBO called, The Nevers being directed by Joss Whedon.