Tom Blyth: 'There's a freedom in playing an aggressive character in my new thriller Wasteman'

He’s played everything from a budding dictator to a sweep-you-off-your-feet love interest – but Tom Blyth’s new role in Wasteman is like you’ve never seen him before.

The leading man, 31, has cultivated a wide-ranging fanbase for his star-marking turns over recent years from his unsettling portrayal of a young Coriolanus Snow in the Hunger Games prequel to the beloved romantic lead in Netflix’s adaptation of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation (PWMOV).

In fact, he’s managed to charm the masses to such an extent that he’s been avidly fancast as the next James Bond (the identity of whom is still a mystery) by swathes of admirers; a fact he received with endearing grace when Metro sat down with him at the London Film Festival premiere of his new movie, Wasteman.

‘Anyone from this part of the world who grew up wanting to be an actor, and seeing people ahead of them forging the path, can’t help but idolise that culture of acting that comes through the Bond franchise. 

‘I grew up on those films so that would be lovely. I don’t see it happening, but of course that would be lovely. It’s a great story and I grew up with all those actors who played him,’ he told us.

The British actor joins a growing list of newly-minted talent – the next generation, so to speak – touted for the coveted part from Jacob Elordi to Callum Turner. 

Whether he’ll be donning a suit as 007 anytime soon remains to be seen but his new thriller is sure to quench the action-packed thirst for his raring fans. 

In Wasteman, Tom plays a volatile prison inmate Dee who takes his new roomie Taylor (David Jonsson) under his wing.

But with Taylor’s release on the horizon, their newfound friendship rapidly begins to unravel as the stakes grow ever-higher. 

Supported by prison rehabilitation charity Switchback, the tense prison thriller – directed by Cal McCau – offers an intimate, unflinchingly honest, and disturbingly violent insight into this facet of the UK justice system and all the ways it’s being woefully let down.

Within the dark themes of the movie, however, Tom managed to find the silver lining.

‘It almost feels messed up to say it was fun because he’s such a dark character, and he’s dealing with so many demons and putting them on other people. 

‘The fun part was giving myself permission, and getting permission from [director Cal McCau] and [co-star David Jonsson], to go off the rails a little bit,’ he explained.

Then added: ‘He’s so not like me (I hope!) but that’s where the fun lies because you get to really try and empathise with someone who deals with life in a very different way. 

‘I had to really allow myself to just be big and bold and tap into an aggressive place every day… It’s not a comfortable place to be for me, anyway. But there was a freedom in it.’

‘[Dee] believes in being the loudest and the most aggressive in the room. He believes in hurting people before they can hurt him, essentially, and it’s all to do with how he doesn’t deal with his trauma and his heart and his pain. 

‘There’s all the serious stuff, but the fun part was getting to do what I saw Gary Oldman doing when I was younger, [like] his work in Leon The Professional, where he plays larger than life villains, but still very real villains.’

Acknowledging this was a departure from his usual ‘quiet, thoughtful performances’ the likes of which we see in Taylor’s character, he said trying a new type of role was all part of the challenge.

‘I had to really allow myself to just be big and bold and tap into an aggressive place every day. That’s not easy, it’s not a nice place to be. It’s not a comfortable place to be for me, anyway. But there was a freedom in it. 

‘I can’t walk around doing that in my daily life at all and so to do it on set, there’s a catharsis in experiencing something that normally you don’t allow yourself to do because it would be damaging to people.’

The whole movie was an ‘enlightening experience’, especially speaking with one of the Switchback consultants who confirmed the level of violence is one he was used to seeing and not a ‘heightened’ Hollywood version for the big screen. 

‘As anyone who has been through the prison system will attest to, we are not our actions. Sometimes people make mistakes, and that doesn’t define them.’

‘It all stems from problems of overpopulation in the prisons, understaffing, underfunding. How can they possibly begin to try and rehabilitate people and make them feel seen and like there’s hope in moving forward when they can’t even get enough people on the prison wing to keep it safe and calm. That was eye opening,’ Tom reflected. 

Dee falls into a genre of characters Tom has played that offer socio-political commentary, such as the aforementioned Snow that warns of the pitfalls of autocracy or as Lucas in 2025’s Plainclothes which explores 1990s homophobia with warnings for the modern day.

‘I actually don’t set out at all to do political work,’ the actor shared when asked about how intentional he is with the projects he chooses.

‘I hope this doesn’t sound wanky, but what I’m setting out to do is really human work and empathise with people who I’m not like when I walk through the streets or in my daily personal life…

‘In doing that, it becomes political, because being human is inherently a political thing. Politic literally means people in space with each other.’

Familiar with tackling morally complex characters, he has a newfound appreciation for how ‘dynamic and multi-dimensional’ humans can be.

‘I feel like the internet has made things seem black and white, and we put people in boxes so easily. We hold them to things they do as their personhood and their personality.

‘We look at people who are in the public eye, or are “famous” and it all seems very flashy and glossy, but actually they go home and they walk their dog and they they brush their teeth, just like you and I.’

‘As anyone who has been through the prison system will attest to, we are not our actions. Sometimes people make mistakes, and that doesn’t define them,’ he added, reiterating his hopes for people to be ‘more empathetic and accepting’ of those not like them.

Tom famously started his auspicious career as ‘feral child’ in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood in 2010 but over the past half-a-decade his public persona has skyrocketed after a series of high-profile roles, and with it, his relationship with fame has shifted.

Even over two years later he shared Hunger Games fans still come up to him on the street and there was an undeniable gratitude for the recognition he has garnered.

He then noted: ‘We look at people who are in the public eye, or are “famous” and it all seems very flashy and glossy, but actually they go home and they walk their dog and they they brush their teeth, just like you and I. 

‘I take that all with a big handful of salt now, and don’t take it too seriously equally. It can be a fun part of the job, but actually all it means is that people are watching your stuff and appreciating it. None of us set out to make work that doesn’t get seen or heard.’

Much like Hunger Games, the inbuilt fanbase for PWMOV was a huge boon for the actor, one he doesn’t take for granted.

‘It’s a testament to these writers that the people who gravitate to those books tend to be very thoughtful, warm people, and so it’s been overwhelmingly supportive. 

‘Because I had such a good experience playing Coriolanus in The Hunger Games, maybe naively, I went into the experience also with optimism and positivity. I did [PWMOV] to do something fun and just to do something a bit lighter.’

Still, like any of us, there comes a time to clock out of work and, when he’s not dazzling in front of the camera, he can be found walking his dog that he rescued with his girlfriend on a beach in Senegal when he was filming his new Claire Denis film, The Fence.

‘[My dog] is crazy, but I enjoy that. I think because life around acting is so fast paced and busy and pulls me in so many different directions, when I can – which is rare at the moment – I try and slow down and just keep things simple.’

Wasteman is in UK cinemas now.

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