Jim Sturgess

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Interview by Nolwen Cifuentes

Photography by Antonio Petronzio

Styling by Andrew Burling

Grooming by Nohelia Reyes

Thank you Russian Club Studios

When I sat down with Jim Sturgess, I couldn’t help but think back to my youth when Across the Universe was in constant rotation in my DVD player. For those of you who missed this classic, it was a musical from the Moulin Rouge! era, with every song a Beatles hit reimagined for the screen, starring Jim Sturgess. Now, years later, Sturgess is once again blending his passions for both music and acting, carving out a space for himself that feels as personal as it is creative.

We spoke about his upcoming film, Apartment 7A — a prequel, or more like a companion piece, to the classic Rosemary’s Baby. Sturgess is quick to emphasize that it’s not a traditional jump-scare kind of horror, but something with layers, a character-driven story set against a disturbing backdrop.

Then, there’s his music. Under the moniker King Curious, Sturgess ventured into new territory with his album. While many actors might dabble in music on the side, Sturgess takes this seriously. His songwriting process? Exhausting, he admits, but also deeply personal.

As we chat, Sturgess reflects on the balance between his two passions and the creative freedom that comes with building his own musical universe. Whether you’re already a fan or just getting to know him, there’s a lot to discover about Jim Sturgess—an artist constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, and surprising us along the way.

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First of all, congrats! You’ve got so much going on—your film Apartment 7A is about to come out, the TV series Playdate, and of course, the release of your debut album, Common Sense For The Animal, under your moniker King Curious.

Yeah, thank you, it's one of those things. It suddenly happens all at once. You have those sit around doing nothing phases, then it all just kind of happens at the same time.

So true, it’s never nicely laid out one after another.

Never, never works out like that.

Talk to me about Apartment 7A, how did you get involved in that?

I got involved quite late in the process. I remember being sent a script by my agent and that the director, Natalie Erika James, wanted to meet me. And he sent me a link to her previous film, Relic. I was very excited about the work that she'd done on that movie. She had some intelligence to the work that she was making. It wasn't just a scary movie, which isn't a genre that I particularly feel attracted to. But I was interested in her point of view in horror filmmaking. 

Then I learned that it [Apartment 7A] was a strange companion piece, a kind of prequel to Rosemary's Baby, which is a film that I know and love.

I was cautious – if you're going to mess with that movie, if you're going to attach yourself to a film like that, then it has to be done in the right kind of way. I knew that there had been a remake of that film or a prequel or something in the past, and it hadn't worked particularly well. But knowing the work that Natalie had previously done and then reading the script, I was really excited about how they had intertwined the two films.

What do you want people to know going into the film?

It's kind of a prequel. I'd say it's more of a sort of companion piece to Rosemary's Baby. It's literally set kind of hours before Rosemary's Baby starts.

It’s almost two stories that are happening simultaneously in the same apartment block that Rosemary's Baby is set in. It's what's going on in one of the other apartments. It's clever, and I think for people who are fans of the film, you get this sort of interaction of the two films. But if you haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, it’s also a brilliant story on its own.

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I love that. I didn’t realize it was set hours before the first film. 

Yeah, literally, like hours. There’s crossovers, for sure. And in the same world of Rosemary’s Baby, it’s not some jump scare kind of horror movie. It's a character piece that exists in this disturbing backdrop. It’s got some weight and intellect behind it.

I showed the original, Rosemary’s Baby, to my wife. She had never seen it before. And she's like, “I don't like horror films.” But we watched it together and she was just gripped the way through. And then you realize that most of Rosemary's Baby is shot in daytime. There's barely any nighttime scenes. It was really interesting to watch it with her, who's really not into scary movies, but she loved it all the way through. So hopefully she'll have the same reaction with Apartment 7A. Who knows?

So would you recommend Apartment 7A to people who generally aren’t into horror films as well?

Yeah, that's what I mean. Absolutely.

You play a Broadway producer, big wig kind of guy, right?

I play a well-respected and well-known theater producer. And Julia Garner's character, she’s an actress, and she's trying to break into that world. She discovers that he lives in this big apartment building. And that's kind of how the story sort of begins. 

From what I’ve read, your character seems to maybe have a sinister agenda. How do you approach playing a character like that?

I got into the script and I rewatched Rosemary's Baby. I looked into the book because my character is mentioned in the book of Rosemary's Baby but isn't mentioned in the film. He already existed in the world. Otherwise, just working with Julia and Natalie in rehearsals and discussions. Natalie sent me all these weird and amazing notes about Satanic worship and devil worshiping and stuff like that – not something I would normally look into on my computer. But, you felt like you had a healthy excuse to look into that world, because it was important for the film.

So you’ve also just wrapped this TV series, Playdate, what can you tell me about that project?

It was a six-part miniseries for Disney. I really enjoy doing miniseries. It's one of my favorite platforms to tell a story in, particularly as an actor. The miniseries gives you some space and time to live with the characters. You're not just trying to wrap it up in a quick hour and a half. You can really spread it out and get into the bones and the problems of the characters. 

It's based on a Swedish novel, and it’s about a couple – a mom in particular, who takes her kid to her first playdate. And things just go very badly wrong after that. I think that's all I'm allowed to say about the project.

I’m so curious about what happens! What drew you to this project?

I was very drawn to it for all the wrong and right reasons. I read it and was just horrified all the way through. It was a very traumatic read because I'm a new parent. I've got a little boy, so, it’s literally, for any parent, the worst thing you could possibly imagine happening.

When you're looking for material, you're just looking for some sort of reaction. Whatever that is, whether that's, “wow, this is really fun,” or whether it’s really painful. As long as it hits a nerve. As much as I was dreading making it because I knew that we'd all have to go to some pretty horrendous places in that process, I was very intrigued to play that character and tell that story. 

It's one of those things – which has happened to me on many, many occasions – is that the films you think are going to be the most traumatic to shoot actually end up being great experiences. I think because you're telling such a heartbreaking story, the times when you're not on set or when you're not in the story just for survival mode, you end up having quite a joyful, fun, bonding experience with your other actors and directors. You need it because you're in this intense environment that you just need the opposite end of that scale. 

I think that’s why people are so drawn to these types of films and TV series too – whether it’s horror or thriller, something that frightens you so deeply. It reminds you that your life is pretty tame and safe in comparison.

That's definitely it. You can turn it off.

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Let’s talk about Common Sense For The Animal—your debut album as King Curious. Congrats! How has the reception been for it?

Thank you. It's been really good. I'm really proud of the record. I put a lot of work into it, more than I anticipated. I didn't really realize how much work it was actually going to be when I started it. It's been a great journey in my life, getting to express myself in that way, and collaborate with friends that I choose to work with. The people that I've met along the way, whether that's been photographers, or music video directors, or graphic artists, or guitar players or whoever – you bring in all these people that you met along your journey, and that's been one of the things I took out of it the most. It was my universe and my world. 

One of the beautiful things about being an actor is you turn up as a guest in someone else's imagination. It's a privilege to be a part of someone else’s creative universe. But with the music and with this particular King Curious project, it was my world. But it meant that I had to do all the heavy lifting. It made me love being an actor, to be honest. I thought the music was my escape, but actually, no, I think the acting is my escape. I can disappear into this world and pretend to be this person. But with music, you have to sit and live with your own feelings and your own emotions. You have to dissect your own experiences in the world and your own thoughts and feelings – it's quite exhausting emotionally.

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I’ve always admired artists that are able to express themselves in different ways. I think as artists, a lot of us feel limited by one expression, or feel like we have to limit ourselves to one thing. But I think for a lot of us, we have different aspects of our identities that are yearning to be expressed in different mediums. I’m curious, first of all, what drew you to music? And then how does your artistic expression as a musician feel different or the same as your expression as an actor?

It's really interesting, and it’s something that I've tried to digest and pick apart myself. I mean, music's always been around in my life. I considered myself a musician before I considered myself an actor. I’d been playing in various bands and music projects, and I'd always kind of done both. At school, I was good at music and I was good at drama, and I was good at skateboarding, and that was about it. And I was never going to be a professional skateboarder. I loved listening to records and I loved watching movies, and they were the two things that fed my imagination and guided me through the world.

I was in a band for a long period of time here in London, and then the band split up. That's when I went and did the audition for Across the Universe. That kick started the whole acting world for me. But, that wasn’t my first acting job either. I had always been making short films and acted in various things. It wasn't like I suddenly left the band and got thrown into the acting scene. I was doing both, and then the acting stuff just really flew. I was always writing music in the background. I was always working on various music projects with various different people. And for one reason or another, they never saw the light of day.

I tried to leave music behind, actually, at one point. Just focus on filmmaking and acting – the world that I felt privileged to be a part of. And that went on for a few years. And then, inherently, I just write songs. I don't know why. They just end up getting in my head. They just kind of circle around. And then I was like, well, I have to do something with these songs that I keep messing around with. For whatever reason, I thought now is the time to do it. If I'm ever going to put a record out, I need to give it a bit of space and a bit of attention. I started to write again on my piano and my guitar, and it grew and grew and snowballed into the end product that it became. But it took a lot of work, like, way, way, way more than I thought.

My husband always talks about the 10x rule—everything will be 10x harder than what you think it will be.

Yeah, that makes sense. It was overwhelming as well. I remember at the very beginning of the process, sitting at my piano and going like, “right, okay, I guess I'm going to try and write an album.” And then you sort of go, like, “right, okay, here I go.” You know, push a button on your key, and, what's going to happen? I found a piece of paper the other day, it was my ideas and thoughts, sort of a track list. It was quite a beautiful thing to look at, knowing that was the very beginning. And now, I can hold a piece of vinyl in my hand.

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Where did you come up with the name King Curious?

Coming up with a name is hard. I knew that I wasn't going to call it my own name. I knew that I didn't want it to be a Jim Sturgess solo record. I wanted it to have its own personality and its own space to exist. I started looking through all my notebooks, looking for them to tell me something. I squirrel little phrases and words, hoping that one day that might be useful. That little phrase or that little word or that little bit of poetry or whatever. And I came across this paragraph, and it said, it was something along the lines of… “I've no idea how this is going to play out, but I'm so fucking curious.” But I'd spilt something on it. It was like a watermark over the F-U-C bit. So it just said, “king curious.” I was like, all right, maybe that could be it.

I love that. So serendipitous.

But then you have to Google it and see if there's anybody else called King Curious. Because I came up with probably twenty other names, that, like, five other bands already had.

You've been acting forever, going from one project to another. How has your artistry changed from your earlier works to where you are now?

I think, as you get older, certainly having a kid changes your headspace dramatically. In the beginning, I was so desperate to do different roles in different genres of films and try not to repeat myself. If I was playing one character that was one way, I'd want to do the total opposite the next time around. Or if it was a romance movie, then I wanted to be in a fucked up, weird indie horror movie. I was just trying to react against myself each time.

I'd been pigeonholed very early on, before Across the Universe. I remember I played a character with special needs and got a good review for doing that. And then another company got me into doing it again. And then I was doing all these special needs characters. I can see how quickly someone goes, “I like you the way you did that. Can you do it again over here?” That was always in my mind, you know, if you do one thing, you have to switch it up and do something completely different. But I don't feel like that now. When I was acting in the early stage, you want to transform yourself, really. You want to be different people and look different and have a different accent, and walk a bit differently – you're always trying to change things, and that has a certain shelf life.

Now, I'm way more interested in bringing my life experiences into the characters. They're versions of me in a weird way, you know. Whereas before, I'm running away from that, and now I’m embracing that a bit more. Rather than a transformation, I’m looking for honesty. Trying to be real in the moment and figure out what that is about rather than putting on a silly mustache and changing your accent.

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