Essentially, Louis XIV created exclusivity. If we look at how we live our lives today, many of us are members of clubs or gyms. We search out exclusivity. He created the world of fashion at Versailles.
I guess if you have had a good education as opposed to someone who hasn't been to school, you start off on this journey having studied Shakespeare for years and years or studied classics. I suppose why people see this big divide - the boarding school boys getting all the roles - is because they feel like some people have had a head start.
I hate not working. It's that lack of purpose. It becomes very easy to lie in until midday.
I've always wanted to explore North America. I drive a motorbike and have always wanted to spend a couple of months exploring the continent on two wheels.
When I was about ten years old, I was brought to London to watch a production of 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.' I think it was at Sadler's Wells in maybe 2000. I watched it because my school was putting on a production of it, and it was the first school play that I was able to audition for a speaking part.
I did school plays, and then, at the age of 18, I applied to drama school in London, and I got in. I've been very lucky that no one so far has stopped me from being able to live my dream - the industry or my parents.
To walk into the hall of mirrors of Versailles as Louis XIV and deliver a monologue on your own in an empty hall of mirrors is like no other experience.
I got makeup tests and hair tests for 'Versailles,' and the main thing they were obsessed with was that my hands were disgusting. I had three years of Irish dirt under my nails. I had to have manicures and everything.
