SINCE HIS BREAKOUT ROLE OPPOSITE STEVE BUSCEMI AND CHLOË SEVIGNY IN 2017’S LEAN ON PETE, CHARLIE PLUMMER HAS SWIFTLY ESTABLISHED HIS POSITION AS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING YOUNG TALENTS TO WATCH. RECENTLY, THE AMERICAN ACTOR HAS WON US OVER WITH HIS RICH-IN-SENSITIVITY PERFORMANCE IN LUKE GILFORD’S NATIONAL ANTHEM – PLAYING AN INTROVERTED CONSTRUCTION WORKER WHO GOES ON A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY AFTER MEETING A QUEER RODEO COMMUNITY. NOW, PLUMMER IS STEPPING OUTSIDE OF HIS INDIE COMFORT ZONE IN THE RETURN, AN EPIC TALE OF ODYSSEUS’ HOMECOMING FOLLOWING THE TROJAN WAR. FROM ACTING WITH CINEMA LEGENDS RALPH FIENNES AND JULIETTE BINOCHE (WHO REUNITE ON SCREEN FOR THE THIRD TIME!) TO MASTERING HIS CHARACTER’S DIALECT AND GETTING CONFIDENT IN WEARING THE PERIOD’S UNIFORM (A SLINKY WHITE SHEET, OF COURSE), PLUMMER SAYS THAT THE EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN ONE OF HIS MOST CHALLENGING YET – AND ONE THAT HE’S INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL FOR.

Left Jacket, top & pants **Fendi**, necklace Charlie’s own, shoes **Marsell**
Right Suit **Prada** & tie **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**

I recently watched your film National Anthem and I found it very touching! I’ve been a big fan of Luke Gilford’s work and the aesthetic he has so clearly defined over the past couple of years. What made you want to work with him on this film?

I’d done a photo shoot with Luke when I was around 18 in Venice, and I vividly remember the experience of connecting with him. If you get to meet Luke, you’ll see within 10 seconds that he is one of the warmest and most genuine people [out there]. And so, even though we only had probably three or four hours together that day, I have been very aware of his work since and admired what he’s been doing. When he published the National Anthem book, I remember seeing some of the photos and being really taken by them. Then, these producers who I’ve worked with on a different film reached out to me with the script for National Anthem. And I read it and was equally taken by it. I was in the moment in my life when the concept of a chosen family and having friends with whom you share a deep sense of spiritual connection was something that I felt really strongly about. Then, I had a three-and-a-half-hour-long phone call with Luke, and after this conversation, it was clear that we gotta do this. You know, this was Luke’s story from the beginning – there are aspects of my character in this story that connect to his own life. And for me as an actor, having someone that I feel has real closeness to the energy that we’re embodying makes me really want to make a point to exist with them and try to find a kinship with them. And with Luke, I didn’t even have to try.

Left Suit **Prada** & tie **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**
Right Jacket **Lemaire**, shirt **Brunello Cucinelli**, jeans **Levi’s**, sunglasses **Jacques Marie Mage**

There is a very strong sense of community in the film. Was shooting the movie a similar experience? Did you stay at a ranch while being in production?

That would actually be very cool. I should just say that that’s true. But no. [Laughs] National Anthem was unlike anything I’d done because we were shooting on film. And, you know, shooting on film in a small independent production is definitely a luxury, so we only had 17 or 18 days to shoot. I think that in itself created this bubble and bond for everyone, even though we stayed in different houses. For me, I knew that as far as my character, Dylan, goes, he’s coming into this world with open arms and open eyes. Growing up in New York and having this fantasy of what the American West and being a cowboy is like, the whole thing felt like a dream that I was getting to step into. And I’m so grateful to Luke that he set it up for me in that way and allowed it to be that – he really just built this world [around us]. My favourite directors know how to build a world in a way that just brings you in and lets you get lost.

Left Sunglasses **Jacques Marie Mage**, jeans Levi’s, shirt **Brunello Cucinelli,** belt **Artemis Quibble**, boots **Marsell**
Right Jacket & pants **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, loafers **JM Weston**

Jacket, top & pants **Fendi**, necklace Charlie’s own, shoes **Marsell**

Now, you’re part of a completely different universe with The Return, which is something that you probably really enjoy as an actor. What has it been like to star in a project of such epic proportions?

It was crazy, as far as just getting to be a part of it all. Also, getting to work closely with two of my acting heroes – Ralph [Fiennes] and Juliette [Binoche] are actors that I’ve looked up to deeply and I’ve watched their work since I was a little kid. And that’s always jarring. [Laughs] As you pointed out, doing something where I sound as different as I’ve ever sounded and I look as different as I’ve ever looked, you just go, “Oh my god, how can I ever step into this?” It was genuinely the first time I felt like I needed to get over that in myself to do my job. And I was so unbelievably grateful to Ralph and Juliette for helping me with that. It’s not like they held my hand through it, it was a very subtle thing that they gave me throughout the experience. Watching them work with each other, seeing their work ethic, seeing how they approach a day or a scene, or even just how they spoke with me… There was just so much that I was able to learn from them. They were like my spiritual acting chiropractors and they just cracked my back into place. They’re very different actors but they have such a history together. They have such trust in one another. And they’ve been doing this for so long that it’s just a part of them in a way that I really see and respect. And as we were shooting, I not only had the sense of admiration but also confidence, as far as like, okay, this what it’s like for great athletes or great musicians – when you’re up close and watching them try to find their best work, it gives you a lot.

Left Jacket & pants **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, loafers **JM Weston**
Right Coat **Loewe**

Left Jacket & pants **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, belt **Miu Miu**, loafers **JM Weston**, henley **Zadig&Voltaire**
Right Henley **Zadig&Voltaire**, pants **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, belt **Miu Miu**, loafers **JM Weston**

You said that you found the voice and the look of your character to be a big challenge to tap into – how did you get comfortable with both of these facets of Telemachus?

With the voice, at the beginning, the director wanted everyone to speak in their own accent, but as we got closer to the shoot, it became clear that most of the actors on the project were European and British. And of course, Ralph is British, the text is this classic text, and like Shakespeare, it sounds better with a British accent behind it, objectively speaking. Not to shade Americans, but I am shading Americans. [Laughs] And so I started working with this dialect coach and she totally saved me! You know, the director wanted me to model my voice after Ralph’s… And this was the first time when I had to really think about how I position my jaw, my mouth, how my tongue operates, all of this was changing because the dialect was so wildly different from how I naturally speak.

Look-wise, I was in a kilt, a skirt essentially. And the director’s concept was to make all of the clothing not feel like it was stitched – it was just fabric that was just basically tied around. And the shoes were as bare-minimum as you could get. So I was working out before the shoot because I was trying to match what the environment would be. But from the comfort zone place, it was like, I’m not wearing any clothes pretty much all day, I’ve got this full beard, I look as pale as one could get, and I’m standing in front of my two heroes and I’m supposed to sound like them. And I was just like, “You’re so full of shit, man.” And then this incredible thing happened on my birthday. Ralph took me aside in the spur of the moment and he said to me, “The reason we want you here is because you’ve got something that we want you to bring to this character, and you are the only one who knows what that is.”

Left shirt **Brunello Cucinelli**, jeans **Levi’s**, boots **Marsell**, sunglasses **Jacques Marie Mage**
Right Suit **Prada**, tie **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, sunglasses **Jacques Marie Mage**

Left Sweater **Celine Homme**, jeans **Levi’s**, boots **Marsell**
Right Suit **Prada**

And what was the effect that this moment had on you?

I think that Ralph saying that, it was like something snapped into my body with it. And after that, I gained an understanding of how this character felt. You know, Telemachus has never known his dad, right? And his only trusted person in his life and friend is really his mom. And being 18 years old and feeling like the only person you can talk to is your mom is kind of an intense thing. And so, for the lack of a better word, the energy was very angsty, it was self-righteous and aggressive, which are not things that I would normally consider myself. [Laughs] But after I had my moment with Ralph, I really felt it.

I think that staying in the voice all day long helped me a lot as well because then, I didn’t think like I was putting it on, it didn’t feel like this foreign thing that I was trying to do. But yeah, essentially, it took a village to get me there. [Laughs]

Left Coat **Loewe**
Right Jacket **Lemaire**, shirt **Brunello Cucinelli**, boots **Marsell**, sunglasses **Jacques Marie Mage**

Left Suit **Prada** & tie **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**

It sounds like an immersion therapy of sorts.

Exactly. You know, this stuff can serve as a therapy of some kind. I don’t think it’s great to go into it with that expectation, but sometimes you will recognize it in the process, and it’s really moving and cathartic.

…

Discover the full story in our FW24 Issue

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Photography by Ritchie Jo Espenilla

Fashion by Kristi Kruser

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Mark Alan Esparza

Stylist’s assistant Chloe Taylor