Empire of Light's Micheal Ward Is Just Getting Started

"I feel truly blessed to tell a story with the people we've been able to tell the story with."

Imagine being a young actor and getting cast in a film directed by Sam Mendes. Oh, and your co-stars are going to be Olivia Colman and Colin Firth...all of whom have earned Oscars. Most would be intimidated, but not Micheal Ward, who plays Stephen in Empire of Light (December 9). "I'd never go and say, 'Oh, you know, my next film, I'd love to work with Sam Mendes.'" Set in an English coastal town in the 1980s, Ward says the drama is "more than a love letter to cinema and even to the period, it's really just a complex story." Even though Ward isn't old enough to have experienced the '80s himself, "Sam just set up this environment for you to really do your best work." While Ward might be a self-proclaimed "rookie," his performance is generating a bit of Oscar buzz, but he'd rather focus his attention on the work. "I feel truly blessed to be able to tell a story with the people we've been able to tell the story with." Oh, and one more thing: "I want to do comedy."

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How does it feel to be part of one of this year's most highly anticipated movies?

It feels exciting. I feel truly blessed to be able to tell a story with the people that we've been able to tell the story with. And also something that's close to London culture in the '80s. It just feels good to be a part of a story that's just good, and to be collaborative with so many amazingly talented people. I haven't really fed into the anticipation, but I hope everyone wants to watch the film. It was important to Sam [Mendes], especially because it's so personal to him, and it's important to us. We really just enjoyed the process.

The film really is a love letter to cinema, particularly British cinema and that era in the '80s. Did that stand out to you?

For me, the style was clear. It being in the '80s and the cars and the clothes, just how it looks. It was a seaside town, where we filmed, in the southeast coast of England. It just didn't feel like it was modern there anyway. It's testimony to the world Sam wanted to create and how authentic he could make it. I think it was beautifully shot by Roger Deakins; [he] grew up in a seaside town, so he knew exactly how he wanted to shoot and was quite meticulous in the things he wanted, to capture us in the best way. This truly is more than a love letter to cinema and even to the period, it's really just a complex story with loads of different themes weaving in and out.

It often does feel like every British town is a seaside town.

It's crazy because the place that we shot in, Margate, I've only been there once before, on this church trip when I was a little bit younger. Before I'd gone on that trip, I didn't even know there were sandy beaches in the United Kingdom. I went there for the first time, "Wow, there's actually sandy beaches in the U.K." Obviously, I know now a lot more, but at that point I didn't.

Also this incredible cast! What was it like working with powerhouses like Olivia Colman and Colin Firth? Were you intimidated?

I definitely wasn't intimidated, I was more so buzzing and excited to work with them. For me, personally, I haven't really trained a lot or done anything like that, so any opportunity I get to learn, especially from people who have won Oscars and who you look at as super successful actors—as Sam said, they're pretty much national treasures as far as film and TV is concerned—so to get the opportunity to work with them was more exciting than intimidating.

Also to see the process because I feel like I'm still trying to understand my process as an actor. I've been fortunate in an authentic and real way. I want to know ways of accessing truth and being able to be truthful in different ways, which I think Olivia and Colin do really, really well. And also all the other actors. Toby Jones, who plays Norman, incredible actor, Tom Brooke, who plays Neil, I had intimate scenes with these guys. So it was amazing to see how they work and how it differs from how I work and how people that have been doing this for years approach the craft. It's exciting to see that I wasn't doing anything wrong. It was mostly just having my own way of getting the truth the same way they do.

You're so early in your career, are you ever surprised by the types of people you've been able to work with?

Definitely. Since I've started acting it just feels like opportunities are arising. I'd never go and say, "Oh, you know, my next film, I'd love to work with Sam Mendes," because you don't even think that Sam Mendes is going to be making a film that will have a Black lead, especially a young Black lead, that I can play. These opportunities just come up in your life. I've always been an opportunist, I've always just wanted to seize opportunities that have been presented and just making sure that I'm the most prepared that I can be for when opportunity arises. Obviously I'm still a rookie, but you don't want to look like you're out of your depth. Even the process of auditioning with Sam, it was very collaborative, it was very much him asking me a lot of questions, how I felt, what I would like to see and what I wouldn't like to see. It just made me realize that no matter how successful you are in life, you can always always learn from each other.

Now this film and your performance is getting a ton of Oscar buzz. How does that affect you? Is it exciting?

To be honest with you, I just feel blessed. It's a cop-out answer but essentially is just how I feel. I just feel so blessed. There's so many people that would love that, probably more than I do, but I just want to keep telling stories. And I think my name being amongst these names and lists is that it brings more people to want to watch the film. I think that's what's important. So they can see the story that we're trying to try to tell. I'm just enjoying it, man, I'm soaking it up.

This film really is a crossover for you, from primarily U.K. attention to getting a lot of buzz from U.S. press. Have you noticed any differences between the attention you get in the U.K. to the U.S.?

It's just bigger. The U.S. compared to the U.K., it's a huge difference. So anything I'd be doing in London is 10 times more [in the U.S.], but also keeping the same sort of intention, you don't want to be doing way too much. I think me and my team have been great with doing that. I've been just enjoying it. This is the first time that I've really been able to embody a character that's not too far away from me, but just a little bit further away from me from the characters that I've played, in terms of culture and the music he listens to. Even the voice. It's not like an accent or anything, it's just changing the way my vernacular was. Stuff like that was really exciting. These are the reasons why I believe I wanted to be an actor, to really embody someone and really create someone and understand how they think and feel. You have to really become that character, where I really have to think about Stephen watching all the films that he would have watched, checking out the people that he mentioned like Richard Pryor and John Belushi. Listening to the music that he listened to and also the fact that he studied architecture. I was really trying to understand what he would have been studying and what we would go on to study. It was just really different to what I've been used to, even getting the time that I had to be able to rehearse. Sam just set up this environment for you to really do your best work, which I thought was incredible.

Now that you've worked with the likes of Sam Mendes, is there anybody else you're dying to work with?

Honestly, there's so many people I'd love to work with, so many amazing directors over the years and just amazing stories. I've been watching a lot of films on planes recently. David Fincher and Christopher Nolan are really directors that I'd love to work with. The list goes on and on. Ava DuVernay. We could be here all day, and also actors, it's the same thing. I'd love to work with Leonardo DiCaprio one day. And also Kevin Hart. He's one of my favorites. I'd love to work with him.

Oh, Kevin Hart is a surprise, since you're so known for drama.

You know what? I want to do comedy. I feel like Kevin Hart's been influential in terms of how I've got into doing this. I remember literally watching one of his stand-ups and at the end of it, he started crying. He was just really grateful to be able to be doing what he was doing. And I'm not gonna lie, that really spurred me on to just take a risk and do something that I love. I like to think of moments in my life where I've had a breakthrough moment, or four. I really think that had an impact on how I started thinking. I love how hard he works. And I don't just want to be stuck in one bracket. I'd love to do a comedy. I'd love to do an action film. I want to do it all as long as the story is good, and there's truth and just something exciting about what the character makes me feel passionate to tell. That's what's exciting.

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