From espionage to open roads: The many sides of Jack Lowden

Jack Lowden is not your typical leading man. Over the past decade, the 35-year-old Scot has eschewed the roles of action heroes, dashing romantic interests and all-signing, all-dancing stars, drawn instead to complicated characters with cracks beneath their surfaces. “I never trust those people that are a complete package,” he says. This month, Lowden reprises his role as River Cartwright in the acclaimed Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses. He relishes the flawed, human side of River – a young intelligence officer driven by recklessness, frustration and integrity in equal measure.

Off-screen, Lowden maintains a balanced lifestyle by avoiding over-immersion in work and finding freedom and relaxation behind the wheel of a car. A lifelong driving enthusiast, he recently teamed up with MINI for its playful Agents of Fun campaign, combining his love for cars with his trademark sense of humour. We caught up with Lowden to discuss the new campaign, as well the enduring success of Slow Horses and his fondness for flawed characters.

GJ: The fifth season of Slow Horses is about to premiere and it has already been renewed for a sixth and seventh season. Why do you think it appeals to so many viewers?

JL: First and foremost, it's about espionage in the world of intelligence, which is never not fun and sexy and exciting. But it has a very different take on it, a probably more real take in many ways, in that it's about people making mistakes. It's just very, very good writing, very funny, and I think it encourages viewers to root for a lot of the characters. Having brilliant actors always helps – the calibre of people that we've got in it is insane. And it’s just incredibly enjoyable to watch. It’s timeless, really.

What drew you to the character of River Cartright? And what continues to interest or excite you about him after all this time?

What drew me to River was his sarcasm and the things that he gets to do, but also the fact that he works from a constant place of frustration. [His job] is not any sort of great honour, I think he has a sort of personal integrity and honour. But a lot of it comes from arrogance and a feeling that he should be doing something exceptional, which I think is just a very different thing to work from with a character.

What have you learned from working with a veteran like Gary Oldman?

What I've learned from working with Gary is that the guy's a perfectionist, and the feeling that I constantly have when walking away from a film set at the end of every day feeling unsatisfied is normal for somebody that wants to do as good a job as Gary does. So, that was the sort of validation – watching that in action in the hands of someone as prolific as Gary.

Do you have a strategy for getting into character or does it differ role to role?

I don't have a strategy for getting into character, maybe that's a problem! I'm very old-fashioned. I'm learning the lines and all the lines inside out, back to front. I let the costume, the period, the situation do a lot of the talking for me. And I try to enjoy my life as much as I can outside of work so I try not to envelop myself too deeply. It depends what the project is – sometimes it requires a little bit more, but there's always life going on next to this job which I'm very thankful for, so I try to keep a healthy distance.

"I always think that cynicism or sarcasm is a cover for a lot of incredibly deep feelings, so I find characters like that very attractive."

You’ve played such a wide variety of characters. Despite their differences, is there any particular element that they have in common that you’re drawn to?

The characters that I play, I think they make mistakes sometimes – honest mistakes, sometimes criminally wrong mistakes. But the fact that they have a human side to them, they're never really the complete package. I never trust those people that are. I also think that they're often not very earnest, they are quite cynical and sarcastic, which is very me, and I enjoy playing. I always think that cynicism or sarcasm is a cover for a lot of incredibly deep feelings, so I find characters like that very attractive.

What excited you about getting behind the wheel for MINI’s ‘Agents of Fun’ campaign?

I mean, I love to drive. I love cars. I've driven since I was 17 because of where I grew up. You just had to learn to drive and so I've always loved doing it. It's what I do to relax and make my mind go somewhere else. So that first and foremost appealed – to have something that involved driving just was too good to be true. And I've always been a fan of Mini's – very cool, cheeky, quirky cars. So yeah, I mean it was a sort of no-brainer, really and that was before the vision of the campaign – it being very tongue-in-cheek, but also very, very cool and huge ambition for only a day of shooting.

Is there a particular drive you love to take on your day off?

Probably either through Glencoe – that is probably the most spectacular bit of road on these islands – or the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr up around there on the Isle of Skye. That's probably where I’d drive, just breathtaking.

Jack Lowden fronts MINI’s boldest campaign yet – a cinematic, espionage-inspired short filmed in London that flips the car ad on its head.

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