I have added additional HQ portraits Jack for the Los Angeles Times last month to the gallery! Please credit back the site when re-posting photos, thanks! <3

Jack’s feature in Evening Standard Magazine released today. You can check out digital scans from the issue in the gallery!

YAHOO – Jack O’Connell is just anonymous enough — for now, anyway — that unfamiliar viewers who see Money Monster are going to be stunned to discover he was brought up in Derby, England. The 25-year-old Brit nails the Queens accent, along with the borough’s blue-collar sensibilities, as Kyle Budwell, a man so enraged by a bad, savings-depleting stock tip that he takes hostage the TV financial guru (George Clooney) responsible for the bum advice.

O’Connell has earned acclaim in a series of low-budget British-produced films like This Is England, Starred Up, and ‘71. He also won wide praise for his lead role in his Hollywood breakout, the Angelina Jolie-directed WWII drama Unbroken, although the movie failed to live up to its pre-release Oscar hype. And while he played a mild-mannered soldier in that film, Money Monster shows O’Connell simmer in a performance that manages to upstage both his Academy Award-winning co-stars, Clooney and Julia Roberts. It’s no wonder the Oscar-winning actor who directed them, Jodie Foster, plucked a guy from Derbyshire to play a New Yorka.

At the Los Angeles press day for Money Monster, O’Connell revealed another quality: being a candid, grateful, soulful, introspective interview. He said actors can be a–holes to each other. He gave a truthful assessment of how his hard-scrabble upbringing in the U.K. would have lead him down a dark path had he not made it as a performer. And he expressed frustration over the process of auditioning to play a young Han Solo in an upcoming Star Wars spin-off, a role that went to Alden Ehrenreich instead (the announcement came just hours after our interview). Few 25-year-old Hollywood neophytes would dare give such an honest response given the politics of the industry and what it could mean for future opportunities. Then again, few 25-year-old Hollywood neophytes have the chops that O’Connell possesses.

Like Unbroken, one of the last films we saw you in, Money Monster is directed by an Oscar-winning actress who is more about filmmaking these days. Developing trend, or pure coincidence?
Pure coincidence, I would say, mate. I mean if it is a trend then more female directors, please. But that’s speaking selfishly. I consider myself fortunate. Angelina I’ve stayed in touch with, she’s a very loyal person. She came and watched my play, The Nap. We did it up in Sheffield [England]. It was off the circuit, a little bit, in terms of London. I invited Angelina along, said, ‘Look, I know you’re in the country. I’m doing this play if you want to come and see.’ And I couldn’t believe it, she turned up. I think going anywhere with her level of stardom is quite an issue. But she doesn’t let it impede her. I think that is very admirable.

What was your impression of Jodie as a filmmaker?
I loved her level of commitment. She was always there. And though she was an actor, she was never in her trailer, which is alien because actors love trailers. Some love them too much. But she’s very driven… Jodie kept me on my toes.

Did you see any similarities in the filmmaking approaches of Angelina and Jodie, given they’ve had somewhat parallel paths?
I think they both recognize that everything you do as an actor is at some kind of cost. Whether it’s emotional or physical or financial or whatever. Not all directors respect that. Not all directors care about that. And I think that can also be a very effective environment to work in as well. But, I certainly appreciate the level of consideration that Jodie and Angelina both kept when they were delivering their direction and trying to steer my performance… It makes me feel like going the extra mile then.
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I’ve added a new portrait Jack took for Vanity Fair at the Cannes Film Festival to the gallery!

COLLIDER – From director Jodie Foster, the real-time, high-stakes thriller Money Monster follows financial TV host Lee Gates (George Clooney) and his producer, Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), as they are put in an extreme situation when a young man (Jack O’Connell) who has lost everything takes over their studio. During a tense stand-off that’s broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty must unravel the mystery behind a conspiracy that led to the disappearance of $800 million of investor money.

At the film’s press day, actor Jack O’Connell sat down with Collider at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles for this exclusive interview about what drew him to Money Monster, making the accent feel lived in, and whether his character was seeking redemption. He also talked about playing a cowboy in the upcoming Netflix series Godless, set in 1800s America. Be aware that there are some spoilers.

Collider: This is a wholly original adult thriller, it’s smart and relevant, it relies much more on character development than action sequences and set pieces, it’s opening in summer movie season and it’s directed by a woman, which is very rare these days. When you got this script and read it, what was the draw for you?

JACK O’CONNELL: Just the reality of it all. What personally makes me feel very excited, as an actor, is when a film is brave and bold and it exposes wrongdoings, which are real. And it was a great opportunity to step into the shoes of someone that I could find quite instantly relevant. Being the same age, I’m sure if I wasn’t acting, I’d probably be a lot worse off than Kyle is. That was quite instantaneous, the way I was able to adopt that, and that was very attractive. But also, to be in there with Julia [Roberts], George [Clooney] and Jodie [Foster], it gives you an instant gratification.

Doing an accent is a challenge, in and of itself, but in this film, you have a lot of dialogue. Does that make it even more challenging?

O’CONNELL: It can never be an impersonation. I can never be trying to imitate. I have to feel like I’m giving something that’s lived in and natural. That’s the main challenge. It’s made a lot easier when all of the content is on the page ‘cause then you have something very definite to work towards. Also, sometimes in a scene, you might go off page, so you have to give yourself enough room and prepare enough. That way, when you do find yourself in that scenario, you have something that you believe in. Otherwise, it’s just too much to juggle. It requires preparation. I can’t imagine taking on any role without trying to figure them things out first.
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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Jack O’Connell will lead the cast of the Steven Soderbergh and Scott Frank limited series.

Jack O’Connell is riding to Netflix.

The Unbroken star has been tapped to topline the streaming giant’s Western drama Godless, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Godless, from Steven Soderbergh and Scott Frank, is set in 1884 and centers on Frank Griffin, a menacing outlaw who is terrorizing the West as he hunts down Roy Goode, his son-like partner-turned-mortal enemy. While Roy hides at Alice Fletcher’s ranch, Frank’s chase leads him to the quiet town of La Belle — that is mysteriously made up of entirely women.

O’Connell will star as Roy, the injured outlaw on the run from his former boss who was orphaned at a young age and was taken in by Griffin who ultimately breaks up a robbery and takes off with the loot, splitting from his father figure after he no longer can stomach his behavior.

For O’Connell, the role marks his first TV foray after his breakout film role as Olympic track star and World War II POW Louis Zamperini in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. Before that, his TV credits included Skins and The Runaway. On the big screen, his feature follow-ups have included Money Monster and Tulip Fever. He is repped by CAA, Conway van Gelder Grant in the U.K. and Sloane Offer.

Billed as a limited series, Frank will pen the script, direct and executive produce alongside Soderbergh and Casey Silver.

Yesterday (May 12), Jack attended the premiere of “Money Monster” at the Cannes Film Festival. You can check out high quality photos from the premiere in our gallery!

EVENING STANDARD – A bright, crisp, spring afternoon in Mayfair and Jack O’Connell — dressed almost entirely in Dior, his scuffed blue suede Adidas the only nod to his pre-fame life — is sitting on a velvet sofa in one of the best suites at the Dorchester, reflecting on the downsides of stardom.

‘My whole life’s different,’ he says in his thick Derby accent. ‘I can’t live the life I grew up living. I used to enjoy going to the football, being around ordinary folk, or so-called ordinary folk, and family get-togethers. Now even they’re difficult. If I go to certain dos every f***er in there’s gonna want a photo.’ Then there’s the small matter of his (perfectly passable) ‘English’ teeth: ‘Whenever I go to LA, people tell me I should get my teeth done. Unless they want theirs f***ing rearranging as well I suggest they keep their mouth shut. My teeth are my teeth and I’ll be f***ed if I’m ever going to do a job on them just to serve their purposes. Well f*** ’em anyway.’ He gives a blast of infectious laughter. ‘I’m not Hollywood. There’s not a bit of me that ever wants to consider myself “Hollywood”.’

It’s hard not to think he may have to acclimatise. Just 25, O’Connell has stacked up an impressive collection of roles, including outstanding performances in Starred Up as a violent prisoner, and a turn as a British soldier lost in a riot in Belfast in ’71. This summer he’s set to go stratospheric: in July he stars alongside rumoured ex- girlfriend Cara Delevingne (more of whom later) in Tulip Fever and plays a Czech soldier in HHhH with Rosamund Pike and Mia Wasikowska. Before that, you can catch him in the Jodie Foster-directed thriller Money Monster, out today, in which he stars alongside bona fide Hollywood royalty Julia Roberts (‘a dream to work with’) and George Clooney (‘piss funny’).

Not to mention his relationship with Angelina Jolie, who cast him as the lead in her 2014 Second World War biopic Unbroken and has become a kind of mentor. Days before we met she flew to Sheffield by helicopter to see O’Connell in The Nap, the play he was starring in at the Crucible Theatre. ‘She just came up with a friend. Proper.’ She’s even met his family — after casting him in Unbroken, she took ten of his closest friends and family members out for a pub supper, which must have been a little surreal. ‘She wanted to meet my people,’ says O’Connell. ‘We all went to this place out of the way in Derbyshire, a pub where you can eat nice food. She came up on her own, man. She had some security people but they weren’t really involved and, yeah, we were all just sat around.’ Jolie, meanwhile, has said she’s ‘in awe’ of him and hailed his talent as ‘a gift’.
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Jack just recently attended a press conference for “Money Monster” at the Cannes Film Festival. You can check out high quality photos from the conference in our gallery. Keep an eye on the gallery for more photos to be added.

Earlier today, Jack attended a photocall for “Money Monster” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. I’ve added a bunch of high quality photos so far, keep checking the gallery for more photos! Thanks to Aurélie for all her help with the photos!