(L) T-shirt by SCOTCH & SODA. (R) Suit by SCOTCH & SODA. Top by R.M. WILLIAMS.
What was the last thing you did for the first time?
I had a flotation tank experience. It’s a large pod of salt water where you float in silence, in darkness. It was 95% pure bliss and serenity. But 5% was panic. It was an almost psychedelic form of meditation for me. Where I had to face myself. I will definitely do it again. I want to reduce the 5% of anxiety to zero. But maybe that’s the lesson it was teaching me: Perfection is useless.
What non-English language cinema do you find the most interesting, or entertaining?
I have a soft spot in my heart for those French character dramas from the 80s. I watched loads in the middle of the night when I was having a rough time at University. Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources are still so perfect to me. Those two are films where every moment, feeling, line or gesture is effortlessly human. Nothing is for effect. Just human truth.
What are you looking forward to?
My 2 year old son riding his scooter solo, the NBA finals, seeing my big brother for the first time in a while, meeting one of my favourite actors on Tuesday, having a salmon mayo sandwich when I finish this interview.
Sweatshirt by GLMPHLEX. Jacket by R.M. WILLIAMS.
What calms you down when you are stressed out?
Lying on my bed with all lights off except one lamp on lowlight. And listening to Dinah Shore – Sleepy Lagoon or anything by Nat King Cole.
What “villain” or antagonist from cinema do or did you sympathize with the most?
Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. The feeling he has of being in an amoral world and needing to do something active about it. He chooses violence which of course is not the answer, however we all have those same extreme feelings that he goes through. Ultimately I think we may all just be evolved apes who secretly want revenge on an immoral world. But then our human restraint kicks in and we (rightfully) don’t act out on those irrational, feral thoughts. The other day a friend of mine said that he believes the meaning of life is to ‘avoid madness and murder’. I laughed but I think he has a point. We’re all only a nudge from becoming the ‘villain’ or antagonist of our own story. How many people have fantasised about assassinating Trump? That’s basically exactly what Travis Bickle did.
What piece of advice do you wish you hadn’t listened to?
None. Even the bad advice turns into good advice, with time. The best advice is to not listen to too much advice. Even your own. Just do… listening and talking are overrated.
Whose film taste do you find most closely resembles your own?
My dad. We both tend to like movies that make us feel. An intellectually satisfying film is great but it doesn’t linger in the way an emotional film will. Certain emotional sledgehammer moments on film have been embedded in my heart forever. Like the ‘Juicy Fruit’ scene in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Just thinking about the character of Chief Bromden in that film gives me a lump in my throat.
Broadly speaking, would you rather have more time to research a role independently or rehearsing with other actors?
I don’t believe in universal rules for acting. Every role and project is entirely unique and needs a fresh new approach. Once I played a character who was a hermit, so I isolated myself from all the other actors during the preparation process. For another role I played a super gregarious character so I was constantly laughing and joking around with the cast and crew in between takes. Both techniques massively helped my performance and the project. That’s the great privilege about being an actor: we get to explore lives other than our own, without being diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. For me, being an actor can be 95% pure bliss. Screw that last 5%. Back to the flotation tank.
James Krishna Floyd can be seen in The Good Karma Hospital, on ITV (UK).
As told to Paul Vaughan for TPJ
Creative Director & Photographer: Jessie Craig
Stylist: Krishan Parmar
Grooming: Stefan Bertin & Adele Sanderson
