An actor as modest as he is versatile, it seems entirely apt that George MacKay’s journey to the top has been entirely by stealth. The British film star has been rising, seemingly, for years, featuring in films such as Sunshine On Leith, How I Live Now and Captain Fantastic. But it was only when he played the message-delivering lance corporal in Sam Mendes’ World War 1 drama 1917 that the world took proper notice. The film was nominated for ten Oscars, winning three. But typical of MacKay, he wasn’t seduced by Hollywood and instead went off to make Munich: The Edge Of War, another wartime drama, based on the Robert Harris novel and co-starring Jeremy Irons.

‘You’d get lost, especially in this business, trying to please someone’s definition of you,’ he says, when we speak during the Berlin Film Festival. ‘You just have to stick true to what speaks to you, what excites you, what inspires you in terms of the opportunities that come your way. And if it goes well, fantastic; if it goes terribly, you know why you did it. That’s the only thing that you can control.’

A case in point is his new film Femme, a risky but rewarding British drama from debut directors Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping that plays with issues of sexuality, homophobia and power play. MacKay is Preston, a lad from London’s fringes who has previously been in jail. Out with his mates one night, he mercilessly beats up Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a young Black man dressed as his alter-ego, drag queen Aphrodite. But the twist comes when, months later, Jules encounters Preston in a gay sauna, proof that the latter has deeply repressed his sexuality. When Preston doesn’t recognise his victim, Jules begins to play a dangerous game with his tormentor. 

The brash Preston, with his yellow hoodie and flash motor, feels a light-year away from the articulate, gentle MacKay, who still looks an innocent with light blonde hair and baby-blue eyes. But what a character to wrestle with. ‘Preston’s quandary is so rich; the dual nature of his personality. And his sexuality, of course, is at the core of that. But for me, it was as much about masculinity, because his sexuality inside of that masculinity is the thing that jars with him.’

Femme features some explicit sex scenes, made extremely visceral by MacKay and Stewart-Jarrett, with the two actors working with intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt. ‘He was really amazing,’ says MacKay. ‘He worked hand in hand with Sam and Ping, and with Nathan and I. And we created such a safe space. Also, the sex scenes are not just sex scenes . . . they’re an integral part of the storytelling of the character journeys. The nature of the sex, what each person is feeling, were like dramatic scenes. And so we dug into them dramatically in the same way.’

As MacKay has got older (he’s now 31), he admits to loving the idea of not just playing a character but understanding the whole process of making a film. He cites Justin Kurzel’s 2019 True History Of The Kelly Gang, in which he played Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. ‘Justin got me to really research the role. And I spent time living with Justin and Essie [Davis, Kurzel’s wife and MacKay’s co-star], and it was one of the most invigorating, creative experiences I’ve had.’ From that, he went into 1917. ‘We rehearsed for months, and I sat in on head-of-department meetings where they’re discussing special effects . . . I was almost like acting head-of-department.’ 

He says the all-encompassing experience of making Femme was the same. ‘It’s just made me hungry to try as much as I can to operate in that way, moving forward with everything.’ Admittedly, it’s taken 20 years for MacKay to reach this point: he’s been acting since he was ten when a talent scout spotted him at school and asked him to audition for PJ Hogan’s 2003 movie Peter Pan. He won the role of Curly. Five years later, he was acting opposite Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell in World War 2 drama Defiance. But remarkably, when he auditioned for the prestigious Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art shortly afterwards, he didn’t get in. Their loss, you might say, especially given he went on a fine and diverse run with Private Peaceful, Pride and Marrowbone.

As for MacKay’s Scottish-sounding surname, his connection to the country is twice removed. His grandfather’s family moved to Australia where his father was born. MacKay, however, was born in Hammersmith and raised in south-west London, but he holds a special affection for north of the border. ‘I love Scotland,’ he says. ‘If I didn’t live in London, I’d live in Scotland. The people there are so warm, and just so human and lovely. I’ve worked there before on Sunshine On Leith and For Those In Peril, which was on the east coast, by Stonehaven.’ He’s also in a relationship with Scottish make-up artist Doone Forsyth, whom he met while making 1917. 

Recently, he’s stretched himself further, starring opposite Léa Seydoux in The Beast, a forthcoming French take on Henry James’ story The Beast In The Jungle. Speaking a fair few lines of French in the film, it was, he says, ‘amazing to work on a fully French production. It was a real lesson in so many ways.’ And he’s recently wrapped The End, a musical with Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon set around the last family on Earth. ‘That’s a beautiful kind of strange project,’ he hints. No kidding: it’s directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, famed for the acclaimed Indonesian death-squad documentary The Act Of Killing.

As for moving to Hollywood, MacKay has no plans to do so. But he did get a taste of it when he went to the Oscars with the 1917 team. It was just a blurry dream, it seems. ‘I remember going to one dinner, and Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx were there. I didn’t meet that many people, but you just kind of see them: “oh, wow, that’s them!” I remember I had a really bad tummy. And I was thinking, “well, if I’m in this room and I’ve got the shits, you might have the shits”. It was a leveller and suddenly everyone becomes real.’

Femme is in cinemas from Friday 1 December.