Taron Egerton makes mark as 'Kingsman' newcomer
Even with only one major feature film to his credit, Taron Egerton already knows there's truth to the old actor's adage, "Never work with kids or animals."
Actually, children aren't that big a pain, something he learned in his British theater days. His pug partner in Kingsman: The Secret Service proved more frustrating.
Having a canine sidekick was "a total nightmare and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. They don't do what they're told, they run all over the place. The only redeeming feature they have is they're unbearably cute," Egerton says with a laugh.
At 25, Egerton qualifies as a young pup in Hollywood, and he impresses in his high-profile, potentially star-making role opposite Colin Firth as super-spy protégé Eggsy Unwin in Kingsman. The action thriller opened a solid No. 2 at the box office ($42 million estimated for the holiday weekend) when pitted against the passionate audience of Fifty Shades of Grey.
"You walk in and you love the guy," Firth says of his co-star. "He's someone you feel you know."
If clothes make the man, Eggsy's wardrobe matches his character arc. He's wearing the casual duds of a troubled English lad from the streets when he meets Kingsman agent Harry Hart (Firth), who owes a debt to Eggsy's late father. Harry sees the potential in his young charge, and after a Pygmalion-type transformation, Eggsy is decked out in the bespoke suit of a modern-day gentleman spy.
Neither archetype fits Egerton's personal wardrobe: He figures he hovers somewhere in the middle.
"I certainly felt more confident in the suit — it makes you feel more protected and capable and able," says the actor. "But it's not much good for relaxing in front of the television."
Egerton has always been a creative sort, drawing, sculpting and painting as a child growing up in Wales. He dreamed of working for an animation studio such as Pixar.
He was nearly 16 when he joined a local theater group in Aberystwyth. His first role was as bellows-mender Francis Flute in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Egerton "fell in love with acting in a red cocktail dress" — the costume his character dons when he's cast as a woman in the Bard's play-within-a-play.
A 2012 graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Egerton is an unknown to anybody who didn't catch his British TV series The Smoke. That appealed to Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn. "You're thinking he's the guy who could easily be killed any second because he's not a star," the filmmaker says. "So you just go on a ride with this guy."
Jack O'Connell screen-tested for Eggsy, and Vaughn liked him but O'Connell became unavailable when he signed on for Angelina Jolie's wartime drama Unbroken. After seeing "hundreds" of actors, Vaughn says he was won over by Egerton immediately.
"He's a seriously well-trained, intelligent actor, and that's rare nowadays," Vaughn says. "He's not interested in being famous, he wants to be a fantastic actor. That's what I find refreshing."
Humble and grateful, Egerton says he learned a lot just by watching Firth on set.
"He handles himself with great grace and confidence and dignity and there's a lot obviously to be gleamed from that," Egerton says, adding that Firth has been "a very constant support" during the promotional tour for Kingsman.
"I've been able to see a bit of the world, it's put me on the map — or so I'm told — so, yeah, it's been good."
Like most young actors, he'd love to be in a superhero film one day, but Egerton already has a vocal fan base that wants him playing a comic-book character post-haste. Maybe playing the next Spider-Man is a possibility — at least it is for Mark Millar, the writer of The Secret Service comic book, who recently tweeted his support with the hashtag "#taron4spidey."
Egerton's next project doesn't involve masks and tights but takes him to the slopes for Eddie the Eagle. Produced by Vaughn and beginning filming in March, director Dexter Fletcher's movie casts Egerton as real-life British Olympic ski jumper Eddie Edwards and one of Egerton's acting heroes, Hugh Jackman, as his coach.
"I only act in films where I've got an A-lister as my mentor," Egerton quips.
In his previous teacher's mind, the young actor is taking to all his lessons.
"He has already demonstrated an incredible range," Firth says. "This is a beginning of an important career."