Corey Mylchreest is probably the face dominating your Netflix homepage right now, between his killer new hit show Hostage to his cottage-core romcom My Oxford Year, it’s not often we interview someone whose topping Netflix’s top ten films and TV shows simultaneously.
After his breakout role in Bridgerton spin-off A Queen Charlotte Story as young King George, Mylchreest has consistently wowed audiences with his light, nuanced and usually heartbreaking performances across a range of genres. But in real life? He just acts like your best mate.
Which is kind of perfect for joining us in our favourite pub corner down at The Lucky Saint in Marylebone, and chatting through everything from having to speak French, becoming a ballet convert (watching, not performing), and - the real hard hitters - his prediction for this year’s Premier League. It turns out there’s probably a lot you don’t know about this year’s man of the moment…
1. He doesn’t really bingewatch shows, but his current favourite watch is The Studio
It turns out that, amongst his other annoyingly impressive skills, Corey has self-restraint and doesn’t actually binge-watch many shows. His equivalent of binging is watching three, maybe four episodes back to back at most.
“I’ve been loving The Studio,” Corey revealed, “My agent actually gets a shout out in it, there’s a scene where a character yells into a room, 'Someone yet Esther Chan on the phone!” and I was like I KNOW HER!” According to Corey, he had a real Leo DiCaprio moment when he saw it (you know the meme we’re talking about).
2. Having to speak French in Hostage was a struggle - it took two hours to do the two lines
Any Brit whose entire French knowledge ceased pre-GCSE and now resembles more Inspector Clueso than Timothee Chalamet probably won’t bat an eyelid at Corey’s seamless bi-lingual character acting, but it turns out it was much more of a struggle than he made it seem.
“Yup,” Corey nodded. “Next question?” he laughed as soon as we brought it up. “No, it was really difficult,” Core confided. “It definitely didn’t come naturally… If I could clock up the number of emails, hours, and time on my own just trying to prepare those two lines. You know, there was actually more French speaking in it originally, then I did a read and then the second version of the script had none of it…
“In ADR (Automated dialogue replacement), I was in there for about two hours redoing those two lines.”
And even if the show itself is full of tense relationships, secrecy, and backstabbing, the cast couldn’t be more different, and Julie [Delpy] and Jehnny [Beth], who play the French President and her chief aid, helped Corey with getting those lines right.
“It was really annoying because I’ve always prided myself on being good at pronunciation, but it was so different. Spanish and German are the ones I’m good at. But yeah, this was a hard one.”
3. One of his first auditions was for Call the Midwife - and he forgot all his lines
It’s hard to imagine someone who has had every show they do on Netflix take the number one spot having any bad auditions, but luckily, Corey has a couple (“loads!”) of bad auditions.
“One of my first auditions was for Call the Midwife, and I was so nervous that I forgot all my lines; it was absolutely awful. It was for a huge casting director, too - it’s been six years since I did it, and this person casts everything.. I still haven’t been back [to audition for them].”
4. He's not planning on stepping into Hugh Grant’s shoes anytime soon
“No-one’s stepping into his shoes,” Corey replied when we asked him his view on the whole being dubbed the new Hugh Grant (it’s the floppy hair to be fair). “He’s untouchable,” he added. So whilst he’s charming audiences in his romcoms and period dramas, he’s not restricting himself to one genre - a detective show, a horror film, it’s all on the cards.
“Heretic was so good,” Corey shared on the topic of everyone’s favourite '90s heartthrob. “It was so cool to see him [Hugh Grant] doing something completely different and being evil, but still getting glimpses of that same Hugh Grant we know. It was just so cool to see how that [charm] can be used in a different way.”
Does this mean we could see Corey tackle a more sinister character next? Quite possibly…
5. He's a big White Lotus fan
Hostage has a stacked cast, it’s true, but the casting team managed to apply that masterstroke of alchemy in getting the right combination of big-hitting names and new talent that fuse together in some bloody good telly. But much like the recent meteor showers, there is always room for more stars. If Corey was in charge of selecting someone to have a cameo in Hostage, he has someone in mind.
“Have you seen the newest White Lotus? Amazing, by the way, I love it. But I would love Sam Rockwell. I mean, I’d love to meet and work with Sam Rockwell; I just think he’s amazing. But also, he’s clearly well-versed in coming into something and giving a phenomenal performance that exists in of itself, in the show and as its own separate memorable story.”
The big question is whether he’d get Sam Rockwell to deliver that iconic (if bizarre) monologue from White Lotus S3 directly in Hostage.
“Oh my god, yes please,” Corey laughed, imagining how that would play out. “Just to the Prime Minister - he gets a private audience with the Prime Minister and delivers that speech.”
6. He'd love to play a superhero - or Arne Slot
Bond rumours? If there are rumours, Corey hasn’t heard of them. “I’m not involved in that conversation at all,” he confirmed. Although that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be keen if the opportunity did come up, after all, in his words, “everyone wants to do that role.”
“I would love Batman, but that’s because of Christopher Nolan and everything that team did with it. I think my dream role would be anything that would make the seven-year-old me bounce with happiness.”
Just add a bald cap, and maybe a couple of inches height wise and he’d be ready to play Arne Slot in a biopic. Sure, we covered Bond, Batman, Superheroes, and White Lotus as dream roles, but with all the football chat came a realisation…
“I think my dream role might actually be to play any football manager. I would love to play Arne Slot - I could be him… probably.”
Ryan Reynolds, have we got a new Disney+ pitch for you…
Oh, and for anyone wondering, his dream roll would be a bacon bap. A man after our own heart.
7. His worst job? Tesco
There are a lot of stories of your favourite celebs working regular jobs before they hit the big time - Stormzy working in Screwfix, Aiden Turner working in a cinema. Turns out, Corey is one of those - even though he got his breakout role aged 25.
“I worked for Tesco and was a runner for their Christmas catalogue shoots. So I had to build all of their toys and stuff, which sounds really fun but actually wasn’t. I was a mystery shopper, which is good because there’s no shifts and you could do it whenever - I’d have to go to a bookies or an off licence and you buy something that you can only by if you’re a certain age (you have to be 18 or 19 to do the job) and if they ask for an ID then great, and if they didn’t then you’d have to give a letter to their manager. So I was a professional snake, basically," Corey laughed. "I had to be a rat - you can’t last long in the industry.”
8. It's mainly film scores on his playlists
As a born and raised East London boy, there’s no narrowing down what might be on his playlist - Metallica? Bon Iver? An indie band named something like Full Fat Fanta or Lemon in a Paper Cut? But it turns out that music isn’t just for pleasure for Corey.
“I have a film soundtrack playlist; lots of Hans Zimmer and John Williams. I don’t have my phone on me, so I can’t think what else is on there! When Spotify Wrapped happens, it’s always The Beatles and Hans Zimmer that are at the top.
“I use it for work - I’ll listen to certain songs for separate characters. For Matheo, there was a song by Lucy Rose that I listened to, and that for me was his song, that really got me into character."
9. He listened to Anakin vs Obi Wan to get into character for final scene
If you’re thinking a dramatic, Anglo-French political thriller would have you listening to some Louanne, some classic traditional swirling marching band music, even Bond theme tunes, you’d probably be barking up the wrong playlist. In the most dramatic scene, the climax of the whole show, it was something more, erm, cinematic that Corey had on:
“There’s a scene right at the end [of Hostage] - I don’t want to spoil anything - but there’s a big final scene and I used Anakin vs Obi Wan and also The Immolation Scene from the masterpiece that is [Star Wars: Episode III] Return of the Sith, 2005.”
10. Despite being a Star Wars fan (see above) his Mastermind round would probably be on Harry Potter
Aside from a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars films, cast, characters, Christopher Nolan’s Batman, and where to get a good bacon roll in London (we cover a lot in interviews…), Corey has some pretty good nerd knowledge. The centre, nay pinnacle, of testing nerd knowledge? Mastermind, of course.
“My Mastermind topic - it’s a tricky one… It would probably have to be Harry Potter,” Corey confirmed (slightly ironic given who was interviewing him. *Cue five minutes of swapping childhood Harry Potter anecdotes*).
11. He is a ballet convert
It’s common knowledge that actors often love film, TV, music, and theatre, regularly attending the latest cultural events to review performances, inspire their own, and examine technique. Turns out Corey is even more cultured than most.
“I saw a production of A Winter’s Tale at the Royal Opera House - I’m not a ballet person, but this changed my mind. It was beautiful.
“In my work, I’m always wanting to throw away technique; it’s all about imagined truth, all about raw emotion. But I’ve never been so moved by technique and watching technique. It was gorgeous.”
12. He’s a big footie fan - with some strong Premier League predictions
This could be a marmite point for any fans of Corey, either you’ll have been a fan up until now, or you’ll be ambivalent, and this will change your mind… He’s a Liverpool fan. Diehard. So we had to ask about his predictions for this year’s league, especially as the interview took place slap bang in the middle of the transfer window.
“You know what, obviously I want to say we (Liverpool) might come first. But I think it might be: Liverpool, then Arsenal, then City, then Chelsea - but Chelsea could push up. They looked a bit rocky against Crystal Palace; they weren’t breaking down the lines. But then we [Liverpool] look defensively unstable… We might get Isak. I think it depends where Newcastle is.”
Basically, like all fans, he has no idea how it could go, but he’s praying and hoping that it’s his team that wins. Relatable. (And yes, he does play fantasy football).
13. He doesn't consider himself to be famous
“When I think of famous, I think of Brad Pitt, and that’s not me. I think I’m someone of note at best.” Possibly, the most Hugh Grant response ever - it’s definitely giving polite Englishman that all Americans think the entirety of the British population is comprised of.
“It’s very strange,” Corey reflected. “It’s definitely something I’m learning to get used to - it comes with incredible opportunities and it can be wonderful. But it is really strange - there are lots more deserving people out there but it doesn’t work like that.”
14. He has a celebrity doppelgänger... according to Americans
“In New York, I get it a lot, but I get Nick Holt a lot - I personally don’t see it, but I love it. Maybe that’s why he bleached his hair,” Corey laughed.
If Holt has any other commitments or sick days during James Gunn’s next Superman movie, we might know a doppelgänger Batman superfan who would definitely be a stand-in - no CGI required.
15. Stratford Shopping centre will always has a place in his heart
"I grew up in East London, and it’s gone now, but Stratford Shopping Centre, before they built Westfield, but about eight people every night it becomes an unofficial refuge for the homeless and a skatepark. Me and my friends when we were teenagers, would skate around the shopping centre and go up to car park - you’d have to hop a barrier to watch skyline. It was such a wonderful mix of all these wonderful characters and people. In my mind, there was definitely some Hans Zimmer or Mombasa (Inception) playing in the background.
"I loved the Leytonstone Tavern too - amazing burgers and lovely people. I’ve since moved but definitely fond memories."
You can catch Corey's new show, Hostage, on Netflix now.
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