Joseph Quinn: "I'm not chasing fame"
Joseph Quinn, who exploded in the global phenomenon Stranger Things – currently starring in Gladiator II – talks about his greatest joys (ice baths), what plagues his existence (snails) and his burgeoning fame ( “I hate talking about it so much, damn it” ).
Photography DANNY KASIRYE
Styling MAC HUELSTER
Joseph Quinn's pupils are so large and dark brown that they sometimes appear dilated. His fans call him “chocolate pupils”. And yet, when I ask him if he confirms that his eyes are indeed his most distinctive feature , he hesitates to answer ( as he did for my inoffensive questions ) "I wouldn't call any of my features 'characteristic', but yes ... From a young age, it was clear that I would never be able to lie well. My eyes give me away a bit. It's weird to talk about your own appearance. So yes. Haha!"
The 30-year-old actor speaks to us via Zoom from the back of a car, a strip of light behind him on the seat changing color like a chameleon. He’s just finished a day on the set of an upcoming Fantastic Four in which he’ll play Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, but he seems full of energy. He’s clearly intelligent, using terms I then Googled to incorporate into my vocabulary, but whenever he says anything that might seem like it’s on the verge of arrogance, he undercuts it with a few self-deprecating remarks.
He's on his way to London to see Longlegs, starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe. Has he noticed more people recognizing him when he goes out on the town? “I hate to fucking talk about it,” he says. Then, again, he softens to answer: “But, yeah, when you’re in a project that’s just come out, I think – unfortunately these days – you end up on more people’s phones, so they’re more interested in you. And then one nail drives out another, and everything goes back to normal. There are ups and downs.” Quinn doesn’t seem to have any “downs” in 2024. In 2023, he was in a small indie film, Hoard , but this year he seems to be everywhere. “Sorry , ” he said. In June, he starred opposite Lupita Nyong'o in A Quiet Place – Day One , a prequel to the hit franchise starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. Next, he'll be one of the two emperors of Gladiator II, which comes out in November, and then we'll see it in Fantastic Four (in theaters July 25, 2025) and Warfare , by Alex Garland. The short answer? Those who don't yet know Quinn's face (and famous eyes) after he burst onto the screen in 2022 as Eddie Munson in Stranger Things will have no excuse in 2025. Quinn seems poised to follow the same trajectory as other actors he admires: Cate Blanchett , Olivia Colman, Willem Dafoe, Lupita Nyong'o, Jesse Plemons. "I'm not chasing a particular level of fame," he says. It’s more about the opportunities that interest me, and I guess I can get used to the fact that I have a bit more choice now, and that’s such a luxury. The offers will come and go, and vary, and I have very little control over that. But with a bit of discipline and discernment, maybe I can carve out opportunities, tailor them more to my tastes, and that’s very exciting.” It can be hard to see the connection between a film like Hoard , which Quinn describes as “really wild” – his character Michael and a teenage foster girl (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) each trigger the other’s ferocity – and A Quiet Place . Quinn says he was drawn to Hoard because of the talented presence of its director Luna Carmoon, and because it was filmed in south London, where he grew up.
Carmoon is also a South Londoner. For A Quiet Place , he was eager to work with Lupita Nyong'o and writer-director Michael Sarnoski. For a role that also has a wild side. Quinn plays Eric, a Brit stranded in New York on the eve of an invasion by monsters who spot their prey – us – by the noise they make. We meet Eric as he bursts out of a flooded subway vent with such intensity that several of the audience members I attended the screening with jumped. For much of the film, Eric expresses horror without uttering a word.
He’s more than cautious about sharing any information about Gladiator II, fearing punishment from Paramount. He plays a blond emperor named Geta, a devotee of sadism and smoky eyeliner. ( “We’re out of eyeliner in Malta. There’s no more ,” the actor jokes.) When his character flashes the thumbs-down gesture made iconic by Joaquin Phoenix as Emperor Commodus in the first Gladiator (which earned the latter an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), his eyes sparkle.
He knew that turning a Gladiator II was a risk. “I saw the first one when I was 12 or 13, and it blew me away,” he recalls. “Ridley Scott is great in it, and I knew that the fact that we were getting back into that world wasn’t going to please everyone. I know it’s a masterpiece, and sometimes it’s better to leave them where they are.” Still, he wouldn’t have turned down a role in this film, or any other that would have put him in the immediate vicinity of Denzel Washington. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t have turned down .” Quinn can expect a string of tantalizing roles, and I ask if he ever thought it was a bit much. Short answer: no. Long answer: absolutely not. He’s wanted to be an actor since he was a teenager. He applied to drama schools and was accepted into the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. The man who had never met actors found himself among people on the same wavelength as him. “It was two and a half years of experimentation, failure, and partying,” he recalls. “ It shook things up, it gave me a lot. It’s not for everyone, but I was old enough to appreciate it. I met some brilliant weirdos there.” He graduated in 2015, at age 21; after leaving school and before his success on Stranger Things , he oscillated between starving and feasting. Between times when he landed promising roles, like that of a guard at Winterfell [the Stark family castle] in the seventh season of Game of Thrones , and others when he tried to make the fees he received for these types of projects last as long as possible. While he was cast in Stranger Things , at 25, his career was still struggling to take off. Due to the pandemic, almost three years passed between his audition and the release of the series. “Either you work and things are going smoothly, or it’s a struggle, you have no money and you can’t do anything. Going back and forth between those two extremes is quite disconcerting ,” he says. “I didn’t have any options. It was the only thing I had any natural aptitude for. I felt like I had no other way out.”
The extended feast he’s currently enjoying is certainly the busiest period of his career. He’s grateful for it. “I know what it’s like to not be busy. And there’s a good side to both. You always fantasize about the antithesis of what you’re experiencing. When you’re working, you want to rest, and when you rest, you end up being restless.” While he’s excited about his career, there are other aspects of acting that he’s less keen on – notably the attention you get off set. He notes that in the UK the displays of affection are more measured than in the US. But eyes are starting to turn towards him, and starring in two major films of 2024 means that your private life will inevitably be scrutinised. “I do my job. That’s what I’m grateful for, to be able to continue working, and to do it with people who inspire and challenge me. The rest is just glitz and distraction.”
He describes his life as “remarkably boring .” He relaxes by doing his household chores, and enjoys exercise and ice baths. “I’m at that irritating stage where I know a little bit about it, and it’s dangerous because I become quite a proselytizer, telling everyone to do it, which must be annoying, I guess.” He lists the benefits: the elimination of cortisol, the rush of serotonin, the health benefits of doing something you don’t really want to do on a daily basis. He adds that he can spend eight minutes in his tub, a statement that, for him, is close to bragging. And he loves gardening, although his land has been overrun lately. “The snails have ravaged my hoya, ” he says. “They try to disturb my inner peace, but I’ll kill them, the snails.” Quinn may find his life boring, but it’s not without its drama.
Credits:
GROOMING Thomas Dunkin @ ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE CONSULTANT Mariana Suplicy
DIGITAL TECH Matthew Cylinder
PHOTO ASSISTANT Isaac Rosenthal
STYLING ASSISTANT John Dunham
