Nicholas Galitzine Is Bringing Joy to Audiences One Rom-Com at a Time

[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Mary & George.]

The Big Picture

• In the Starz series ‘George & Mary,’ the naïve George is molded by his cunning mother Mary to pursue power, leading to possibly deadly consequences.
• Nicholas Galitzine discusses working with Oscar winner Julianne Moore and the toxicity in the relationship between their characters.
• The quick bond that Galitzine and Tony Curran formed helped with the intimate scenes between George and James.

The Starz series Mary & George, inspired by the true story of Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore) and her son George (Nicholas Galitzine), tells a tale of scheming and seduction in the court of England. Unable to reach the levels of power and wealth that she desires, Mary wants the naïve George to step up and pursue King James I (Tony Curran) to achieve the prestige that has eluded their family. And while he started out as a romantic in a tender love story, George’s desires grow into exactly what Mary has molded him into, which could have deadly consequences.

During this interview with Collider, Galitzine talked about how nothing could prepare him for working alongside Academy Award winner Moore, the fun they had exploring their dynamic and the toxicity between their characters, wanting to explore the tender side of the love story between George and James, the importance of the pearl earring. He also shared how humble and excited he feels about his latest string of high-profile projects and his hope that the opportunities will continue for years to come, why he thinks rom-coms are currently making a comeback, how much fun he had playing a pop star in The Idea of You, and what he hopes for next in his career.

Nicholas Galitzine is Riding the Wave of All the Recent Film and TV Opportunities He’s Experienced

Collider: I’ve seen quite a few of your recent projects, including Cinderella, Purple Hearts, Red, White & Royal Blue, The Idea of You, and now Mary & George. It’s quite an interesting variety of stories and characters. How are you feeling about the work that you’re doing these days? Even just considering the handful of projects I just mentioned, when you think about the people you’ve worked with, in front of and behind the camera, how does it feel to be an actor at this point in your career?

GALITZINE: It’s very humbling, and it’s just so exciting. I’ve been working as an actor for a decade now, and there was a lot of hard work to get to this point. I’m very thankful that people are hiring me, and I’m getting these wonderful opportunities. I feel like I’m learning so much from these Academy Award-winning actors. And in terms of just the variety of the projects, that is something that has always been really important to me, to create that sense of longevity, but also just to keep me creatively stimulated. And I hope that continues for the next years.

Do you feel like you’re single-handedly bringing back the rom-com?

GALITZINE: No, I don’t feel like I’m single-handedly doing anything, to be honest. It takes an army. I think it’s a sign of the times. It’s been a grueling few years for a lot of people and I think people want to experience a level of joy in their lives. Anne Hathaway and I were talking with each other and something that we keep saying a lot is the word joy. Our movie (The Idea of You) has a lot of that, and a lot of these other rom-coms that have come out in the last couple of years have that, as well.

There was something very special about the chemistry and the believability between you and Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You. Aside from working with her, which must have been amazing, what was it like to also get to be a pop star for a bit, who is successful enough that you got to recreate Coachella for a performance?

GALITZINE: It was incredible. Childhood fantasies were lived out, for sure. It was extremely intimidating. I always start from who the human is, and then build out, in that case, what their on-stage persona is. That was such a fun part of the filming process, getting to film with my wonderful bandmates, Raymond [Cham Jr.], Jaiden [Anthony], Viktor [White] and Dakota [Adan]. We had such a blast filming those scenes.

And then, you show up on a set like Mary & George, with the lavish sets and incredible costumes. Is it ever so surreal that you just need to take a moment?

GALITZINE: It’s so funny, I had already done three projects back-to-back. Jumping into Mary & George, I was so in the headspace of changing from character to character, but there is no preparation for acting alongside Julianne Moore and being on these wonderful sets. Those are the things that really ground you, as an actor. Instead of it feeling surreal in some capacity, you feel a part of the world. Once you put the costume on and once you’re in these incredible estates, it’s just so immersive, more than anything else, I’d say.

What was the experience working with Julianne Moore like? She seems like someone who is always willing to step in and be there. Does that give you more of a sense of fearlessness to try things, when you know that she’ll catch whatever you throw her way?

GALITZINE: She was just so sweet and kind to everyone around her, and I think that really settled a lot of people. It was definitely helpful that I’d just come from working with Annie [Hathaway]. To be fair, I’ve worked with some really incredible, iconic people over the last few years, like Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, and Minnie Driver, so there was less intimidation going into that experience. Julie is also very opinionated and very focused. She cares about her character very, very deeply, and you have to bring the same care for your character. I wouldn’t say there was a combative nature necessarily, but because we’re playing these two people who are at odds with each other, it was so interesting to see what she was bringing, and try to put George’s perspective up against Mary’s perspective. I think it made for some really exciting and challenging moments in the show. I think we both loved that side of who she is with George at the beginning of our story, with him seeking her affection and love, and then when they start to clash, it gets really interesting.

How did you view that relationship? Did you see it as something that is kind of toxic?

GALITZINE: Yeah, there’s a definite toxicity to it. George is exactly what Mary makes him. She tries to scold him, towards the end of the show, and that’s what he says to her. He’s the exact by-product of her machinations. When we first meet him, he’s a very fragile, tender young man. He’s really desperately seeking her love and affection, and it is not unconditional. It is very conditional, or that’s how it feels to him, and I think it does aid in setting him down this very nefarious path.

‘Mary & George’s Nicholas Galitzine Wanted to Tell a Tender Love Story Between George and James

What did you find most interesting to explore in the relationship between George and James? A lot of the intimate moments between them are really quite decadent, and you guys had an intimacy coordinator for those scenes. Were the conversations around those moments really important?

GALITZINE: Sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t. Tony [Curran] and I bonded very, very quickly. We knew that we had to do a lot of those scenes together. We actually wanted to tell a really tender love story because there are points in the script where it is this almost marital bliss. They argue like an old married couple. It’s George’s voracious desires that take him away from that, in some ways. The scale of the task never felt too big for us. It just came down to connecting or clashing in those moments. Great acting is conflict, in a lot of ways, and there was plenty of that, certainly towards the end of the show. With Tony, it was always easy. We have become really close friends and we have a very similar sense of humor. It was a joy.

I love how all those moments are not just there for the sake of being there, but they all feel like they’re telling story and furthering story.

GALITZINE: Yeah. Specifically in regard to our intimate moments, I totally agree. This was how George accrued his power. This is how he dominated people. This is how he manipulated people. Every scene in the show serves a purpose and tells us who George is in those settings and how he convinced people of himself. I actually felt very empowered doing those scenes.

‘Mary & George’s Nicholas Galitzine Explains the Importance of George’s Pearl Earring

When you have something like the pearl earring that George wears, does that change your demeanor when you’re wearing it? Obviously, the lavish sets and the incredible costumes help a lot, but do the little details like that help just as much, or even more?

GALITZINE: Totally. Working with Annie Symons, our wonderful costume designer, we were very specific about how to tell George’s story and how to show the opulence of his wealth, as he grew in power and stature. The pearl earing is a really funny one because we started off with a very small pearl on his ear, and over time, the pearl got bigger and bigger and bigger, showing the sign of his wealth. All that stuff really beds you into the character. I think Annie is just wonderfully talented.

Do you know what’s next for you? Is there a genre you haven’t done, that you’d really like to do? Are you rooting for a Red, White & Royal Blue sequel, along with everybody else?

GALITZINE: It’s lovely to hear that people enjoyed that movie so much. In terms of what’s next, there are a few things I can’t really talk about just yet. Obviously, the strike created this effect whereby things are now going a lot later than we thought they would. But there are so many genres that I haven’t really dipped into yet, that are definitely on the agenda. Being part of auteur-driven projects is really important to me. It just feels like a very exciting point in my career, where I’m getting to do a lot of things that I haven’t done before, which is so enjoyable.

Mary & George airs on Friday nights on Starz. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Starz