Joseph Quinn

After months in a high-intensity boot camp for his new film Warfare, Joseph Quinn is finally coming up for air. The actor, known for his breakout role in Stranger Things and an impressive run of period dramas, reunites with friend and Fantastic Four co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach to talk about navigating Hollywood, the weight of portraying real-life stories, finding confidence, and the importance of camaraderie on set

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: So, where are you right now, Joseph?

Joseph Quinn: I’m at home in a very sunny south London. Are you in Chicago?

EB: Yeah, it’s sunny here too, but cold. I’ve been back and forth and going home on the weekends, shooting pickups . It’s weird – it’s like trying to remember what we did a year ago and filling in the gaps. Almost like reshoots, but not really.

JQ: Pickups? You’re not that kind of artist.

EB: No, I just want to play from the beginning to the end. How are you, man? What’s going on?

JQ: I’m good. I’m enjoying London, which is rare since I’ve only been here about a week this entire year. Dodged quite a gruelling winter, apparently – I was in Los Angeles and Paris. Don’t feel too sorry for me. When I came back it felt like the first weekend of spring. There’s a magical thing that happens in this city after a winter; people come out and share war stories, because you sail pretty close to the wind of disaster here. It can be relentless. But it’s nice to see the sun shining and see some smiles on people’s faces, and to be around some English people, to be honest.

EB: I’ve been in London around this time of year before. It’s like a collective exhale.

JQ: The transitional seasons in this city are the best. There’s something about layers and shades here. You can layer up somewhere, people are mooching about. I’m full of London love at the moment, because sometimes it’s not like that.

EB: I think you’re usually full of London love, you’re pretty patriotic of your city. I’ve seen your London; I love walking around with you, because you know so much about it and you have such enthusiasm and passion for the town. In New York, with people that have been in the city long enough, there’s a love but it manifests in cynicism and complaining.

JQ: I see a lot of New Yorkers roll their eyes at the state of gentrification and the inaccessibility of New York, which I don’t think is exclusive to New York. These big cities are becoming so expensive. People say, ‘Oh, that used to be a great dive bar’, and now it’s a bank.

EB: I suppose that London suffers from the same thing. One of the things I like about Chicago too, is how you feel the past in a way. It looks back, as opposed to New York which is always so forward looking. Could you live in New York?

JQ: Maybe Brooklyn – near you would be nice.

EB: Should we talk about acting now? So, when does Warfare come out?

JQ: It’s out in April. We start press for it next week, so I’ll be heading back to LA. We shot it in five weeks at Bovingdon Studios in the UK, where we recreated Ramadi, Iraq. The set was incredible – some Iraqis who saw early screenings thought we’d actually filmed on location. That’s how realistic it was.

EB: You showed me, it’s crazy. So that was 25 days, and Fantastic Four was shot over 90 days. Do you prefer one to the other, in terms of ‘fast and furious’, or more novelistic and slower?

JQ: I think there’s virtue in both. If you’re aware of the time pressures and the fact that you only have a limited amount of resources, and you’re not going to have any reshoots, there is something that makes the moments sacrosanct and quite adrenaline-fueled. There’s something quite guerilla about it. But at the same time, when there’s a bit more time and grandeur in scope, you can have chit-chats, which I think we made the most of. You’re able to bond with your classmates more, and you’re able to see these incredible set builds.

EB: How was it working with Alex Garland? His style must be completely different from when you worked on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

JQ: There’s a very specific kind of adrenaline pumping through you on a Ridley Scott set. Both are incredibly prepped in their own way. Alex was very clear about getting the film done on time with the schedule and the budget allowed, so we had to be incredibly prepared, especially as we were playing Navy SEALs. We rehearsed like a play for three weeks before shooting, as the movements, the non-verbal interactions, all had to be second nature. Alex used two cameras, and the camera operators were very nimble. On our first day we shot nine hours of footage. It felt like we were constantly filming. Since the movie takes place mostly in one house, we all had to be there for continuity. Going into something like that, where you’re aware of the time pressures, but you’re very prepared, is quite thrilling.

EB: When you’re working so intimately with a group like that, did it gel? Or did people have different feelings about the way they wanted to work?

JQ: Individual processes were all respected, it was very much a collective culture. We were all staying in the same hotel, travelling to set together, working out and eating together. There was nothing individualistic about it. It wouldn’t have worked. We were all there in service to this story. It was co-directed by this ex-Navy SEAL named Ray Mendoza, and it’s an anecdotal story about something that happened to him and his SEAL mates on this day. We were all very protective over the memory and we were all there to muck in.

EB: When it’s somebody’s story, you want to honour it. You have to show up in a way that is maybe less indulgent than, say, making a superhero movie. I think back on the months we spent together on Fantastic Four. Our process of figuring out who we were mirrored the story – our characters figuring themselves out after this life-altering event.

JQ: I agree, every film set is a social experiment. Your role is different on each set that you go to. You’re consistent in who you are, but the dynamics are different.

EB: I held on to our relationship for dear life, because it was like a life raft. The movie was so big and it was so hard to contain in my little consciousness. It was in outer space, battling villains that are the size of planets. It’s hard to imagine that, play it and take it all in. I was grabbing onto the most terrestrial human stuff. To some extent, it was our job to humanise this story. To ground it, in a way.

JQ: I can relate to what you said about clinging onto each other. We were a constant amongst the chaos.

EB: How did you like flying as Johnny Storm?

JQ: It was good fun, I like being on the wire. My stuntman Joe was very effusive and would give me validation when I didn’t feel like I was flying very well.

EB: He was lying to you.

JQ: He’s a good one.

EB: When we filmed together, you were learning Italian. How’s that going?

JQ: Perfetto. I had very large ambitions for using our downtime. I anticipated there was going to be a lot of waiting around, so I thought, great – I’m going to get a fucking Italian tutor, do all of that stuff. But there was lots of talking, coffee, and we played some music.

EB: You played a lot of guitar on set. Still playing?

JQ: Yep, but that ended up being my Italian, I guess. Are you still playing piano?

EB: No, I haven’t been playing at all. What are you travelling around with, what’s your guitar of choice right now?

JQ: I’ve got a Gibson and a Fender that I’m travelling around with – they’re welded to me. Got a little Orange travel amp, too.

EB: Do you play with anyone?

JQ: Not yet. I used to be in a band when I was younger called Black and White. We played weddings, doing covers and sometimes our own songs, which may have surprised a few brides.

EB: You in touch with those guys?

JQ: Not as much. But I’d love to play with people again. I just need to get my confidence back. Do you miss playing with people?

EB: I miss it like crazy. I would jam with friends weekly, and then COVID hit and it was a victim of the pandemic – people moved away, people got married and life just squashed it. There’s an obvious connection between what we do and playing music, in terms of collaborative art forms. I found that doing something that didn’t have any kind of professional pressure felt so fun. I’m always trying to bring that level of freedom to when I’m working on set.

JQ: It’s the permanence of it, isn’t it? Ideally you want to be completely unflappable and impervious to the stakes on a film or TV set. You want to be spontaneous and not too aware of the permanence of a performance, because otherwise you’re shackled to outside perceptions and you’re not being creative. In my experience, when I’m doing theatre, it’s like you’re aware of the fact that tomorrow you know you’re going to have to do it all again, and you can rip it up and start again. That’s not to say there’s a preciousness about screen work, but I think that you’re aware of the fact you know the choices you make in that scene are there forever.

EB: You seemed quite relaxed on our set, or was that just an illusion? You seemed to be loosey-goosey.

JQ: You want to keep it spontaneous, but you’ve got to stick with a decision, I suppose. I wasn’t too nervous, there were moments where I was touching on that – where the scale of things can feel like you’re aware of it, and it can feel inhibiting. Regardless, the first week I’m not sleeping well, I’m nervous. It doesn’t matter what I’m on. Do you find that?

EB:It’s like the first day of school. I’m working on the fourth season of The Bear – I know everyone really well, and I still feel it in my stomach. I think we’ve covered everything? I only have a couple of minutes and I have to go to work, we’re doing splits today .

JQ: I really appreciate you, thanks, Ebon. Love you, mate. Let’s catch up soon.