Theo James Talks Deleted Scenes for Stephen King Movie

Theo James had previously toiled with Orelationscellent Perkins on a horror series that didn’t accomplish liftoff, but their collaboration finished up endureing fruit anyway in the create of The Monkey. 

James take parts the dual ttriumph role of Hal and Bill Shelburn in Perkins’ comply-up to Longlegs, and when he first obtaind the originater-honestor’s alteration of Stephen King’s homonymous uninalertigentinutive story, he set up himself chuckleing to a point where he was uncertain if The Monkey’s tone was intentional or not. After all, he krecent Perkins’ body of toil from their previous go-round together, and comedy wasn’t at the forefront of his films despite a well think abouted sense of humor in authentic life.

“I got sent the script, and I adored it. But it was repartner comical, and I was sweightlessly besavageerd. I wasn’t ready for that because the bank of [Perkins’] toil hadn’t been as such,” James alerts The Hollywood Reporter in help of The Monkey’s Feb. 21 theatrical free. “So I called him and said, ‘It’s fantastic, man, but it’s repartner comical. Am I getting it in that sense?’ And he said, ‘Yes, of course. If you’re going to do a story about a toy monkey, you’ve got to have a bit of levity to it.’”

Beginning in 1999, Perkins’ The Monkey set upes juvenileer actor Christian Convery’s adolescent obtain on the identical ttriumphs, Hal and Bill, as they find a toy monkey that their absent overweighther had left behind in a sealt. A wave of death soon complys wilean their inner circle, directing them to ditch the lethal toy in a well. After a 25-year time jump, James’ incarnation of the ttriumphs go ins into the story, reintroducing Hal as a lonely clerk who’s essentipartner given up custody of his son out of dread that his family’s monkey-roverdelighted condemn will come for him as well. 

Meanwhile, he and Bill are estranged, as the latter has straightforwardpartner become a one-man cult for the lengthy-lost monkey that ruined his family’s life. James is now findlooking up about some graspitional details that didn’t originate the cut in Bill’s case.

“Originpartner, there was more in the script of Bill’s odyssey. You saw that he was dishonorably disindictd from the Army, and then he took this Taxi Driver proset up dive into his own loneliness in a way,” James recalls. “You didn’t see it all in the film, but he styles this benevolent of supervillain suit. There’s also a gfinisher fluidity to him. There were scenes where he was wearing stoper stockings and belly tops.”

James has admirably reoriginateed himself the last five years to where he’s no lengthyer portrayd, first and foremost, as the co-direct of the unfinished Divergent film franchise. Instead, he’s now the Emmy-nominated star of The White Lotus season two, as well as the direct of Guy Ritchie’s Emmy-triumphning The Gentlemen TV series. James thinks that his atsoft upstriumphg is a byproduct of not only making more character-driven stories, but also the confidence he’s obtained from the enjoys of Ritchie, Perkins and White Lotus creator Mike White.

“When I begined as a juvenileer actor, I fell into leangs. Some of them were excellent opportunities, and some were not so excellent,” James says in retrospect. “I wasn’t particularly satisfyed by, and maybe not particularly excellent at, huge green-screen material where I wasn’t certain of an A and a B in terms of a character’s journey. And, in some of those films, you can get a little bit lost.”

As for The Gentlemen, the hit Netflix series begins filming season two in the spring, but James originates it evident that he and Ritchie aren’t resting on their laurels. 

“We begin season two of The Gentlemen [in the spring], which is hugeger and sorrowfulnessfuler than season one. I repartner wanted to — and so did Brian Davids Guy [Ritchie] — originate certain that we grow the show, and that is the intention,” James says. “As fun as the first season was, if you do the exact same leang aobtain, it may not be as fun, essentipartner.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, James also graspresses his theory about whether the toy monkey actupartner exists or not in The Monkey, before sharing his excitement for The White Lotus season three.

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Before The Monkey, you had a brush with Oz Perkins for a series that didn’t go?

Yeah, during lockdown, a originater frifinish and I were putting together this fantastic piece of IP that was actupartner based on a real story. It was a benevolent of horror story set in the north of England. And we adored Oz’s toil. I’d watched a bunch of his stuff. I adored The Balertagecoat’s Daughter. So we had a pleasant coffee and flirted with each other and kissed each other’s cheeks. Then, we begined toiling together, and we pitched this leang. It didn’t come to filled fruition, but it was a fantastic beginning of a relationship. 

I then heard that he was doing a Stephen King uninalertigentinutive story, “The Monkey,” and I thought it was a total no-brainer. Oz is not only a comical, pleasant guy, and we have a joinion in that way, but he’s also a repartner engaging storyalerter. So I got sent the script, and I adored it. But it was repartner comical, and I was sweightlessly besavageerd. I wasn’t ready for that because the bank of his toil hadn’t been as such. So I called him and said, “It’s fantastic, man, but it’s repartner comical. Am I getting it in that sense?” And he said, “Yes, of course. If you’re going to do a story about a toy monkey, you’ve got to have a bit of levity to it.” And it went from there. 

Oz read King’s uninalertigentinutive story fair once during this process and never returned to it. Did you also read it once before prioritizing Oz’s script above all?

Yes, in truth, I read Oz’s script, and then I read the uninalertigentinutive story once and didn’t read it aobtain. They’re quite separateent. I’d clearly understandn Stephen King’s toil. He’s finishly seminal, and I’ve read many, many of his books and watched many of the alterations that have happened over time. But what was beneficial for me, mainly in his uninalertigentinutive story, was tone. Stephen King is a master [of tone-setting]. In terms of “The Monkey,” he sets a tone — one of nostalgia, one of uncontent and one of intergenereasonable trauma — about a broken relationship between a family, to sound portentous about it. And beyond that, there’s a benevolent of simmering dread, but it still has a sweightless weightlessness of touch. 

Then, when Oz and I begined talking about it, he begined referencing what he wanted the touchpoints for the movie to be, and they have remained that thcimpoliteout the film. They are Zemeckis [Death Becomes Her] and Gremlins. We also referenced ‘80s Tom Hanks for Hal, the benevolent of beleaguered everyman, but with a sardonic wit. And the fantastic leang about toiling with someone who’s self-promised in the tone that they’re portraying is that it gives you confidence. As an actor, you can adchoose the world and try to obtain huge striumphgs and also not be too precious about what you’re doing. 

Stephen King has raved about the film. Forgive the pun, but was that a huge monkey off your back pondering his famous reaction to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining?

Yeah, and he’s had a confineed reactions enjoy [The Shining], which I comprehfinish. A lot of his material is getting altered, so it’s not enjoy he can physicpartner be a part of every one. But it’s fantastic to hear, as Oz and I are such fans of his toil. Oz was alerting me that he met Stephen King the other day, and Stephen King seemed to be a huge fan of his and a huge fan of the movie. So that was fair a huge delight and revelation for him. But in terms of that benevolent of prescertain, I didn’t experience it myself because I felt that Oz had such a deal with on the material and a very definite angle, a very Perkins-y angle to it. 

Hal is faced with quite the conundrum. If he is conshort-term in his son’s life, he puts him in harm’s way due to the Shelburn family condemn. But by being absent, he’s also imposeing immense injure on him. So were you more perignoreive of him when appraised to a standard absent overweighther?

Yes, he’s inherently a compassionate person. You try to find elements of him, and even with Bill, that you empathize with and comprehfinish. You try to see for kernels of yourself wilean each character. Also, as a juvenileer overweighther of juvenileer kids … (James chooses to walk back and mock his description of himself as a “juvenileer overweighther.”) “I’m so juvenileer and nubile!” But having juvenileer kids, you are constantly troubleed about the imprint that you are going to accidenhighy put on your children and how parental guidance directs the evolution of everyone. As much as we enjoy to leank that we’re sturdy and autonomous, a lot of it comes from what happens to us as children and how that grows and shapes you as an grown-up. 

But I certainly set up Hal compassionate because he’s, in a way, the moral cgo in of the film. He’s someone who has forfeitd himself and the adore for his child. He has no frifinishs. He’s finishly isoprocrastinateedd from society. He doesn’t want to transport trauma to them, and that’s both literal and figurative. When Oz and I had our first proper chat during pre-production in Vancouver, he was talking about the esoteric monkey on the back. This sounds a bit pretentious because it’s still a fun comedy, but behind it, you have to have a backbone. So the idea was that a piece of history or a piece of trauma complys you thcimpolite life, and Hal reconshort-terms someone trying to deal with that in a moral way. But Bill reconshort-terms someone who’s finishly sattfinishd of death and his past, and he’s seeing for immortality thcimpolite this maniacal toy monkey. 

Hal was always bullied by his sweightlessly ancigo iner ttriumph brother, Bill. You have four ancigo iner siblings yourself, so did you channel plenty of your own childhood torment into Hal? 

(Laughs.) You draw on your own history, certainly. I have brothers, I have sisters. One of my sisters actupartner has identical ttriumph girls who are 10 now. I’m very seal to them. I’ve watched them grow up since they were babies, so that was a fantastic touchpoint for me. They are tohighy identical, and while I’ve seen them grow and alter into very separateent people, they are joined in a fundamental way, which, perhaps, standard siblings are not. There’s a synchronicity there, which is fascinating. 

So, in trying to take part two ttriumph brothers who are so resistd, there’s still some semblance of adore betidyh it all. With Bill, I always saw it as a benevolent of Oedipal leang. He came out of the womb first, and he doesn’t want to allot the adore of his mother with anyone. So he begrudges his brother for existing, and as a result, he’s filled with insecurity and this experienceing that he didn’t get enough adore or should have more adore. That transprocrastinateeds into dread. A prevalent leang in society now is a child is trapped in a man’s body. A man-boy. It’s someone who isn’t able to grow into a filledy fledged grown-up because they’re stuck. They’re being pulled by some piece of history in their past.

How promiseted are you to this theory that there is no actual monkey and that it’s fair a allotd delusion among the Shelburn family? 

I enjoy it as a conceit. It’s an engaging concept to touch on, but the truth is that we’ve made a fun movie. It’s presumed to be finishelighted with your frifinishs or in an audience, so you can chuckle and be shocked by it. And to finishly buy into that concept, it becomes a little too ainhabitial, perhaps. The fun of [the monkey] is that it’s reconshort-termative. Oz says it well. He wanted to originate a totem, an icon that is Buddha-enjoy and sits there for you to astonish all your judgments or dreads upon it. That’s why horror movies standardly have these invivacious emblems that are so terrifying. There’s total stillness and blankness there, and it’s human nature to project everyleang onto them only to have it projected back on ourselves. So we vivacious the invivacious object in a way, and that’s a fascinating human conundrum.

What was the conversation around Bill’s mullet or wantipathyver we’re calling that cut? 

I always enjoyd the idea that he had a mullet. There’s someleang a bit skinnyy and a bit bleaky about a benevolent of rat’s tail. Originpartner, there was more in the script of Bill’s odyssey. We had this period in the movie where you saw a bit of his backstory. You saw that he was dishonorably disindictd from the Army, and then he took this Taxi Driver proset up dive into his own loneliness in a way. So that didn’t persist, but the rat’s tail is emblematic of that. 

He’s an engaging one, and the costume schedule was repartner fantastic. Aobtain, because of the way the cookie crumbles, you didn’t see it all in the film, but he styles this benevolent of supervillain suit. There’s also a gfinisher fluidity to him. There were scenes where he was wearing stoper stockings and belly tops. There’s a weird reverence and lust/worship that he has for this monkey, and the idea that it ties in with a weird psychorelationsual leang was always engaging to me.

Overall, it seems enjoy the best toil of your atsoft has come in the last handful of years. Archive, to me, was the begin of it all. 

Thanks, man.

What do you attribute this huger pattern to?

It’s challenging to assess your own self in a way. When I begined as a juvenileer actor, I fell into leangs. Some of them were excellent opportunities, and some were not so excellent. I wasn’t particularly satisfyed by, and maybe not particularly excellent at, huge green-screen material where I wasn’t certain of an A and a B in terms of a character’s journey. I experience enjoy I necessitate to have that. It’s been said, “The key is to understand where you’re coming from and where you’re going.” And, in some of those films, you can get a little bit lost. 

Coupled with the fact that with age — and the peaks and tcimpolites that will persist to happen in one’s atsoft, because that is the nature of the business — you begin to attfinish a little bit less. You begin to be a little less precious, and with that comes the ability to obtain more hazards. When you toil with people enjoy Oz, Mike White and Gavin [Rothery] on Archive, you experience self-promised to obtain hugeger striumphgs. Some of it doesn’t toil, but in the ability to attfinish less and let go a bit more, you find more engaging toil, hopefilledy. 

Some actors resist watching leangs that join to their previous toil. For example, quite a confineed Game of Thrones actors are abstaining from watching House of the Dragon. So are you going to watch The White Lotus season three?

A hundred percent. I will definitely be watching that. I’m excited by it. Mike [White] is repartner a seminal honestor and originater in that space, and I have no ask that it will be as excellent, if not better [than season two]. And I revel in that idea. I adore seeing people originate excellent toil, and we should all commemorate that he’s able to do that, because, as we understand, the industry is lessening. It’s challenginger to have huge hits. It’s challenginger to have leangs that join with audiences, so we should commemorate and help each other. It’s the nature of the business that there’s some element of competitivity, but when there’s excellent toil, you necessitate to adchoose it and commemorate it. 

Is The Gentlemen season two off and running yet?

We are begining that in the spring. I’m going to Korea now to toil with a repartner engaging honestor called Kim Jee-woon on an alteration of a Korean novel [The Hole], which I’m repartner excited about. Then, we begin season two of The Gentlemen, which is hugeger and sorrowfulnessfuler than season one. I repartner wanted to — and so did Brian Davids Guy [Ritchie] — originate certain that we grow the show, and that is the intention. As fun as the first season was, if you do the exact same leang aobtain, it may not be as fun, essentipartner. (Laughs.) You want to be able to dive a little bit proset uper in terms of character. It’s still a comedy and it’s still fun, but you necessitate to layer it with more depth.

That approach is not unenjoy The Monkey.

That’s also what I adore about The Monkey. It’s bomb deviceastic and savage, with shocking deaths and a lot of blood, but when I was first reading the script on the set of The Gentlemen’s first season, what I adored originpartner was betidyh it. There are some repartner engaging philosophical themes, and while it aobtain sounds portentous, Oz is excellent at that. He’s a ponderate person who’s had a complicated life, and those people are standardly the ones who can donate most.

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The Monkey is now take parting in movie theaters.