‘Will Poulter’s Big Gains’ – GQ Hype

[ Posted on May 09 2023 by Tanea ]

Will is featured in GQ Hype this week with yet another gorgeous photoshoot and a wonderful interview. I’ve added the photos to the gallery and you can read the article below!

Not for the first (or last) time today, Will Poulter has just tried to hug me. We are two of 60,247 fans inside London’s Emirates Stadium on Mother’s Day Sunday, and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has just scored his second goal of the game to make it 3-1 against Crystal Palace. In the heat of the moment, Poulter—a lifelong Arsenal fan—turns to me and commits to an embrace. But at the crucial juncture, his arms somehow freeze and instead we share some kind of bro-charged chest bump. Returning to our seats, we nod as if to say, “that was awks.”

This interaction is typical of Poulter, an actor who for more than a decade has been charming audiences with a certain full-hearted commitment laced with more than a hint of cringe—whether in comedies like We’re The Millers or this month’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3. “Anxious? Socially awkward?” Poulter says. “I’m your man.”

In truth, a cringe moment had been brewing. A polite fist pump at 1-0 quickly escalated into a double high five at 2-0. After spectacularly missing the mark with the hug for the third goal, a reversion to muted back slaps seems the acceptable thing to do when number four goes in.

Full time, 4-1 and another three points in the bag, we walk through Highbury Fields to find our driver on what has turned into a sunny spring afternoon. With it still being March, Poulter can’t help but believe the title race is on. He’s busy pinging off messages to his various Arsenal WhatsApp groups, “buzzing for [Arsenal center-back] Rob Holdinho,” as he affectionately calls him. Poulter has supported Arsenal all his life, although at times pondered giving up due to the “inexplicable amount of emotional baggage” that comes with it. The last time Arsenal men’s team won the Premier League, Poulter was 10, and while he can remember it, this season is without doubt the most exhilarating he’s experienced firsthand.

Poulter turned 30 years old a few months ago, and he’s trying to treat it like a new chapter. For the last decade-plus, the young actor has been steadily building up an impressive CV, from A24’s cult hit Midsommar to awards fodder like Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit and Amazon’s The Underground Railroad. More recently, his performance as Billy the OxyContin salesman in 2021’s Dopesick saw him take a beating from Michael Keaton and land an Emmy nomination. Now he’s fresh from landing the superhero part of a lifetime as Marvel fan favorite Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3. As a kid, Poulter loved Wolverine—initially from the comics and cartoons, then Hugh Jackman’s films—but he cites James Gunn’s comedic touch in the first two Guardians for rejuvenating his interest in the Marvel universe.

After bagging the role of a supposedly perfect human being, you could forgive another young actor for stunting on social—gym brags, red carpet flexes, on-set pranks, Comic Con selfies—but that’s not Poulter’s style. Instead his feeds are a regular stream of activism: standing up against bullying, sounding out economic insecurity and championing racial equality. Although conscious of sounding “worthy”, he likes to be something of a human billboard for good causes, naming individuals like Alex Holmes, of the charity Anti-Bullying Pro, or Lavinya Stennett, of The Black Curriculum, as people “who are actually doing the real work and affecting change in society.” Over a handful of conversations, at the game and afterwards, Poulter opened up about his next chapter.

GQ: How do you feel about turning 30?

Will Poulter: For the longest time, there was so much haziness around life beyond 30. It was scary because I thought, Oh, am I lacking in maturity? Am I literally not going to experience my 30s for some reason? And then when it came about, it was kind of nice. Someone pitched it to me as the start of a new chapter. I think my mental health struggles have been, if I’m entirely honest, the thing that’s maybe contributed to some of that haziness. And I’m really keen to try and manage my mental health in a way where I’m able to just enjoy life a little bit more.
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‘Will Poulter Is Just Getting Used to His Superhero Era’ – The New York Times

[ Posted on May 09 2023 by Tanea ]

Will was featured in The New York Times this past week. I’ve added photos to the gallery and you can read the interview below!

Even when people don’t know Will Poulter’s name, they recognize his face. It helps that the 30-year-old Brit has been acting for half his life and has racked up an eclectic list of film credits, though he’s also blessed with a pair of distinctive eyebrows that are as curvy and expressive as a fleur-de-lis. They pull people in, even if those people aren’t always sure where to place the on-the-cusp actor.

“To be honest,” Poulter said, “the bulk of my interactions are, ‘Do I know you from somewhere? Are you the guy from that thing? What have I seen you in?’”

Often, this forces Poulter to cycle through a list of his projects until something clicks. Do they remember him as the shy dork who received kissing lessons from Jennifer Aniston in “We’re the Millers,” or the brash friend who meets a bad end in “Midsommar”? Or maybe they grew up on some of the YA franchises he co-starred in, like the “Maze Runner” series and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”?

Poulter is a patient man, but his willingness to oblige a stranger can still lead to some awkward moments. “No one wants to be put in a position where you’re reciting your C.V.,” he said. Likening himself to a supporting character from “The Simpsons,” he added: “I often feel like I’m doing a Troy McClure impression: ‘You may know me from such things as…’”

After this weekend, Poulter’s “where do you know me from” conversations will receive a cut-to-the-chase trump card: He’s joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the caped superhero Adam Warlock in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Described in the comic books as a genetically engineered perfect being, Poulter’s Warlock has glittery-gold skin and dangerous powers: Imagine an Oscar statuette that can shoot cosmic beams out of its hands, and you’re halfway there.
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‘In Conversation with Will Poulter’ – Numéro Netherlands 2023

[ Posted on May 09 2023 by Tanea ]

Will is featured in the latest issue of Numero Netherlands. I’ve added the photos to the gallery. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video and read the interview below!

British actor Will Poulter has established himself as one of the great young actors of his generation through his work with many of the best filmmakers in the business. This year will see Will’s MCU debut in James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, which is set to release globally this May.

Will, next up you’ll be starring in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, which is premiering this May. How excited were you when you got cast on this film and became a member of the Marvel family?

Really excited!I think in the first instance, I was pretty nervous. As a fan of Guardians, I expected the set to be intimidating and because of the size of the franchise I had built up this idea in my head, but it was really such a lovely surprise and such a welcome realization that it’s truly a lovely, laid back, friendly set. All of the things that I thought would be really intimidating, sort of fell away because everyone was so welcoming. And James Gunn as a director set a really nice tone on set, there was no reason to be scared and it freed us all up to have fun and enjoy the process.

In the film, you’ll play Adam Warlock, a powerful artificial being created by the Sovereign to destroy the Guardians. Tell us more about your character and his story.

It’s kind of hard to talk about anything in relation to the film at this stage, without getting into spoiler territory. But what I can say is that Adam is in his infancy at this stage. You are seeing him having recently emerged from his cocoon and I think it’s fair to say that he emerges underdeveloped in certain respects. He’s quite immature and he’s trying to find his way, orientate himself and craft out what kind of person he is, what side of the line he is on as far as good and bad is concerned. And that was a fun exploration engaging as Adam.
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‘Will Poulter Can’t Believe He’s This Swole Either’ – The Cut 2023

[ Posted on May 09 2023 by Tanea ]

Will Poulter was featured in The Cut in April 2023, and I’ve added the photos to the gallery. You can also read the article below!

Will Poulter has a barely discernible red scar running up the side of his hand. You would never notice it unless he stood next to you, which he’s doing right now as we prepare for a cooking class in central London and realize to our horror that our lack of knife skills and respective injuries may be a bad omen.

“I don’t tend to be a good cook, but I do love to cook,” he tells me, tying the strings of his apron behind him. “It’s one of my favorite activities.” We’re at Migrateful, a cooking school that offers classes led by asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, and our teacher is Helen, an Eritrean refugee who fled a dictatorship after being imprisoned for evading the unlivable conditions of military service. We’ve never tried this cuisine before, and Poulter absorbs everything, asking questions about typical ingredients and the Italian influence on Eritrea’s food culture. Helen demonstrates our menu for the day with the finesse of a true professional: timtimo (brown lentils and onion in a spiced tomato sauce), hamli (a side dish of braised greens), and a salad on a traditional flatbread. “Smells amazing, Chef!” Poulter says, grinning.

With his ice-cream swirl of strawberry-blond hair and the arch of his famously expressive eyebrows, Poulter is an actor who embodies his characters with full physicality. They range from the hilarious (We’re the Millers) to the biting (the Maze Runner franchise, Midsommar) and always lead him to unexpected places. On May 5, he will enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as Adam Warlock, an artificially created antagonist genetically engineered to be a perfect specimen. “That doesn’t really describe me,” he says humbly, “and I knew the second they cast me that they were going in a different direction.” His version of the legendary character is still “in his infancy” and “far from physically perfect in just about every way.”