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LONDON — Several years ago, Will Poulter was watching an episode of the paranoid sci-fi thriller “Black Mirror” when his phone rang. He was unemployed and waiting for the next project, so it felt like happenstance when the call turned out to be his agent checking his availability for a future installment of the very same Netflix anthology series.
“Is there anything more ‘Black Mirror’ than that?” Poulter, 32, asks, speaking over brunch on a recent Sunday morning. “I was looking in the corners of my house to see if I’d been bugged. Could they see me through the TV?”
That phone call became something radical for even the “Black Mirror” universe: a choose-your-own-adventure-style 2018 interactive film, “Bandersnatch,” written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. Viewers selected how to proceed through the narrative with choices made via their remote, resulting in a multitude of storylines and possible endings. Poulter played eccentric video game designer Colin Ritman, a character with a compelling sense of self-grandiosity who imagined himself to exist outside the confines of space and time.
Poulter made Colin so memorable with his unexpected approach and clipped, mechanical delivery that Brooker brought him back for an upcoming Season 7 episode, “Plaything” (launching on Netflix Thursday), even though Colin technically died in the timeline of “Bandersnatch.”
“The easy thing would have been to make him a stoner or a preposterous nerd or a hippie-like figure,” says Brooker, speaking over Zoom. “But Will brought an air of cool weirdness. He became one of my favorite characters to write in the whole of ‘Black Mirror’ and that’s why I brought him back.”
It’s no surprise Brooker is full of praise for Poulter, who, he says, “clearly thinks a lot about every decision he’s making, but makes it seem effortless.” That accolade rings true during our interview too. With absolutely no pretense, Poulter shows up at Chiswick’s High Road House in a sleeveless black Nike shirt and gym shorts (it’s laundry day, he explains). He slouches casually on the velour sofa between bites of granola and sips of black coffee. But despite his nonchalant vibe, Poulter is completely locked in, never distracted by the frequent comings and goings around us.
“Black Mirror” embodies a dichotomy that Poulter constantly seeks, encompassing a social message and providing entertainment. The actor’s new trifecta of movies, “Death of a Unicorn” (in theaters now), “Warfare” (out Friday) and historical queer drama “On Swift Horses” (April 25), span a broad range of narrative tones, but all embrace the London-born actor’s interest in serving his audience.
For him, it’s less about the size of the role, as evidenced by his turn as a brash manchild in Ari Aster’s nightmare-inducing “Midsommar” or his Emmy-nominated guest role as Luca, a pastry chef and mentor on “The Bear,” and more about the result.
“The chance to do more and more onscreen is obviously enticing, but not at the expense of the character feeling real to me and to other people,” says Poulter.
“I want to always try and ask myself, ‘By doing this film or this TV show, what is that going to do for the person who sees it?’” he says. “Hopefully it activates something, even if that’s just a smile or a laugh. I always want to be able to answer that question and to be confident I know what my ‘why’ is.”
“Warfare,” a viscerally intense combat film set during a disastrous, chaotic 2006 mission in Ramadi, Iraq, gave Poulter the opportunity to confront big questions about global conflict and manhood. The chance came when Poulter received another game-changing call, this time to meet with filmmaker and screenwriter Alex Garland, recently of “Civil War,” who surprised Poulter by casting him as Captain Eric on the spot.
“Alex said, ‘Read the script and if you like the part, I want you to do it,’” Poulter recalls, admitting he was baffled by the invite after several previous rejections. “I had auditioned for [Garland’s show] ‘Devs’ multiple times and even when they said no, I kept sending tapes because I was so desperate to work with him.”
Garland, who co-wrote and co-directed the film with former U.S. Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, says he was interested in Poulter because of his “incredible reputation.” But it was the actor’s ability to convey complex emotion without much dialogue that ultimately impressed Garland.
“The actors have to inhabit the spaces in between the lines with their personality and their character,” Garland explains of the unique demands of “Warfare,” which unfolds in real time as the mission goes south. “Very often in this film, that’s to do with exchanged glances. With Will, actually, it’s a look inward. The actors all rose to it, and Will did it very well.”
The movie is based on Mendoza’s own experiences during the Iraq war and is slightly fictionalized to protect some platoon members’ identities. Poulter’s character of Eric, the officer in charge, is based on someone still on active duty. In an impressive ensemble cast, which also includes D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn and Kit Connor, Poulter stands out by embodying a stillness that covers the character’s underlying turmoil. He aptly presents Eric as someone who remains calm in the face of disaster and who accepts the true responsibility of leadership.
“Will had a lot of similar attributes to the real person,” Mendoza says. “He was older than us. What made him a good leader was that he knew he was surrounded by very talented people and people who were competent at their jobs. Will understood that being a good leader is more about listening than talking.”
Ahead of shooting last summer, Poulter took advantage of an opportunity to visit the real Eric (whose name was changed) at a military base in San Diego. He calls it “one of the most extraordinary days” of his life.
“He was even more impressive and progressive than I expected,” Poulter recalls. Growing up in London, Poulter had “a lot of prejudgments” about what an American soldier would be like. “I made a lot of assumptions about him, and I was taken aback by how forward-thinking and progressive he was,” he adds. “It’s a privilege to be able to say I have no idea what war is like and all I know is what I’ve seen in TV and film.”
Speaking with his real-life counterpart also underscored the mission statement of the film, which mercilessly immerses the viewer into combat with a bombardment of action and overwhelming noise. Realism was the guiding principle, which is why so many of the real-life SEALS agreed to share their stories.
“The idea was not to glorify or romanticize or praise what the [soldiers] do for a living, but rather reflect the experience authentically,” Poulter says. “A different version of this movie would try to make the fighters look cool or better at their jobs. This movie is littered with people making mistakes and experiencing loss. That requires a lot of humility from the people involved.”
“He showed a lot of initiative doing that,” Garland says of Poulter’s preparation. “He did everything he could. He didn’t leave anything on the table. I’ve worked with a lot of actors and often they say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to prep. I’m going to do this. You just watch. It’s going to be amazing.’ Will went right ahead and did it.”
Before production started, Garland and Mendoza assembled the cast at Bovington Airfield Studios, north of London. They put the actors through a three-week boot camp where everyone shaved their heads and learned tactical skills. Poulter calls that bonding experience “integral.”
“That trust shows up subliminally on screen because there’s very little dialogue that exists outside of radio talk,” he says. “Ray did an amazing job of imbuing confidence. But none of us were under any illusions about the fact that it was a drop in the ocean compared to the real thing.”
Near the beginning and the end of “Detroit,” Kathryn Bigelow’s tense, excruciating and entirely necessary new film, a young Motown performer named Larry Reed (beautifully played by Algee Smith) raises his head and croons to the heavens with heart-swelling abandon.
Poulter also recalls working with director Kathryn Bigelow on her 2017 socially charged 1960s drama “Detroit,” in which Poulter played racist police officer Philip Krauss.
“Watching her leadership style was critical to me being able to do ‘Warfare,’” he says. “My own personal understanding of leadership and how to lead comes from Kathryn because she exemplifies that concept of hearing every voice in the room and not letting your ego get in the way. She has humility and authority in perfect harmony.”
It was “Detroit” that pushed Poulter to reconsider how he wanted to approach his art. After growing up as a child actor, he had graduated to notable films like “The Maze Runner” and “The Revenant.” But “Detroit” underscored the idea that his work could also have a social impact. Learning about the conditions that led to the city’s 1967 12th Street Riot completely changed how Poulter understood his “place in the world and how my privilege as a white person had textured my experience.”
“It woke me up to the idea that film and what I do for a living does have the potential to inform other people of these things and maybe motivate change,” he says. “But equally, it’s meaningful to me when people say they watch ‘We’re the Millers’ when they’re depressed.”
“Death of a Unicorn” leans closer toward the entertainment side of the spectrum, with Poulter stealing the show as entitled rich kid Shepard, whose Big Pharma family wants to milk the discovery of mythological creatures for money and drugs. The whimsical and violent horror comedy, written and directed by Alex Scharfman, allowed Poulter to improvise and stretch his comedic muscles alongside Paul Rudd, an actor he’s admired since “Friends.”
“‘Warfare’ was the most transformative and overall meaningful experience I’ve ever had on a film set,” Poulter says. “‘The Bear’ was the most personal to me and one of the most life-affirming. But ‘Death of a Unicorn’ is purely the most fun I’ve had and the most laughs I’ve had. It was a serious pinch-myself moment.”
The upcoming “On Swift Horses,” directed by Daniel Minahan and based on Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, was a more introspective experience. In the 1950s-set romantic drama, Poulter plays Lee, the optimistic husband of Daisy Edgar-Jones’ Muriel, who begins to reconsider her sexuality and her happiness after the arrival of Lee’s erratic brother, Julius (Jacob Elordi). Poulter, who shot the film in Los Angeles in 2023, was excited both by the script and the prospect of working with Minahan.
“It’s a bonus when I’m able to stretch myself and feel like I’m being challenged,” Poulter says of his character, the most straight-laced figure in the film, but imbued by Poulter with a surprising vulnerability.
“When I pitched my impression of the character it seemed to align with Dan’s, and he told me things about Lee that reframed my thinking,” Poulter says. “It felt very constructive and collaborative and it felt like a good sign of how we could work together as actor and director. I felt like, ‘I want more of this.’”
Despite the convergence of four major projects in the span of a month, Poulter says he’s unsure how he’s regarded by audiences and by his peers, although maybe that’s the best thing for his sanity. It’s even more confusing that, when people recognize him on the street, it’s often not for a particular project.
“People just recognize me because I look different,” says Poulter, who has captivated audiences with his unique, expressive visage since he was a kid — a striking presence similar to actors like Owen Wilson and Barry Keoghan. It’s a distinct look he’s grown into over the years. “I have one of those faces and I’m lanky,” he shrugs. “That combination means that it’s hard to go unseen. A lot of times people say, ‘You look like that guy’ or ‘What do I know you from?’”
He laughs. “You don’t want to be the person who is reciting your CV and listing off movies.”
He’s achieved the sort of range to which many actors aspire, and he’s often done it by leaving audiences wanting more. His brash character in “Midsommar” remains a connective point for fans, even though Poulter claims he had the easiest job on set since he was “just wandering around vaping and making d— jokes.”
“I feel weird taking any kind of credit or praise from ‘Midsommar,’ but I had a blast,” he says. “None of the horror or the trauma of it seeped into me in the way it did for some of the others.”
“The Bear,” too, has lingered. Luca, a handsome, tattooed pastry chef, first appeared in Season 2, but Poulter reprised the role in the Season 3 finale, much to the delight of fans. Poulter makes a promising face when asked if he’s coming back, but refuses to definitively confirm anything.
“I really hope so,” he finally admits when pressed. “I love that show so much. The fact I get to be in it is crazy. When I’m on that set, I’m like, ‘Oh, they’ve let a fan on set.’ I literally feel like a competition winner.”
It’s that passion, alongside an innate curiosity about the power of acting, that propels Poulter. He recently wrapped indie filmmaker Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters” in Atlanta and hopes to continue to search out collaborations that feel sincere. Like with “The Bear,” he’s enthusiastic about his career because he loves movies and TV as much as the audience does.
“I do what I love for a living because I am a fan first,” Poulter says.
For now, he doesn’t need to headline a film to be its standout. As he’s proved time and again, he can do that with a single scene.
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