Archie Madekwe Takes to the Hills

Archie Madekwe Takes to the Hills

Archie Madekwe will never forget his first impression of Los Angeles. The London-born actor was 24 and flying in to meet a casting director for See, one of Apple TV+’s first scripted series. “I have such a distinct memory of the plane coming over the city and thinking, ‘It’s so flat, and there are just blocks and blocks and blocks,’ ” he says, laughing. “I felt like a goldfish thrown into a pond. It was so daunting.”

Cut to five years later, and Madekwe is back — this time as the lead in Lurker, a sleek, sun-drenched thriller, out Aug. 22, about the perils of fame in the Hollywood Hills. In the years since his wide-eyed first visit, he’s racked up roles in such indie cult hits as Teen Spirit and Midsommar, held his own opposite David Harbour and Orlando Bloom in Gran Turismo and stolen scenes (and social media hearts) as the brooding outsider in Saltburn. He’s also become a red carpet regular and campaign star for Loewe and Prada. But Lurker is by far his biggest break.

The debut feature from Alex Russell, who cut his teeth on Beef and wrote the Emmy-winning “Forks” episode of The Bear, Lurker has Madekwe playing Oliver, a rising British pop star trying to find his sound and his people in a strange and unfamiliar city. The film charts his complicated relationship with a fan turned friend turned something darker. Madekwe first auditioned to play the obsessive hanger-on (now portrayed by Théodore Pellerin), but it wasn’t until two and a half years later — after Russell secured financing — that the filmmaker circled back. An exec suggested Madekwe for the lead; Russell unearthed the actor’s old self-tape and handed him the starring role. “You’ll rarely hear me say this,” Madekwe recalls, “but I crushed that self-tape.”

The idea of playing a magnetic pop idol gave him pause. “It felt really exposing and intimidating,” he says. “Like, what if nobody believes I could be this pop star?” But it ended up unlocking something unexpected. “It allowed me to do things I never would have dreamt of before this film.”

Growing up in South London, Madekwe always wanted to act, though he never imagined this trajectory. He credits early theater trips with his parents — and a formative obsession with Marion Cotillard’s La Vie en Rose — with lighting the spark. He followed his cousin, Umbrella Academy actress Ashley Madekwe, to the BRIT School, the U.K.’s only free performing arts high school. A West End run opposite Damian Lewis in 2017 landed him a visit from UTA, thanks to Lewis’ invitation. They’re still his reps today. “I thought I’d be a professional theater actor, maybe do this ‘pilot season’ thing I’d seen my cousin doing,” he says. “No one ever told me I’d be traveling all the time, living out of hotel rooms. It’s like it all just happened to me.”

While Lurker plays as a thriller, much of its emotional weight comes from the isolation Oliver feels as he climbs the fame ladder. It’s a feeling Madekwe understands but hasn’t been consumed by. He’s stayed close with his hometown friends and made meaningful connections on set — Alison Oliver on Saltburn, Will Poulter on Midsommar. “I remember doing a job with an actress and asking her assistant, ‘Why do I feel like she likes me sometimes and pulls away other times?’ And the assistant said, ‘She likes you. But she works so much, it’s hard to invest in people you’ll just have to say goodbye to.’ ” Madekwe gets it — the emotional exhaustion — but still finds joy in building those bonds. “Ironically, that actress and I are still close.”

He’s also learning there are many ways a project can succeed. Gran Turismo, his first time as No. 1 on the call sheet, debuted during the strike and didn’t immediately register. “It was a slow drip,” he says, as viewers found the film later on Netflix. “Regardless of how much money that made, or how many people saw it, I was in every single scene, leading this really intense production. I still walked away a better actor.” Saltburn hit differently — a true phenomenon — and gave him a taste of what he calls “good old-fashioned narcissism.” Naturally, he hopes Lurker hits that same nerve. It’s the most demanding role he’s ever taken.

“I didn’t know I was going to be making the music for this film,” he says, “and I was actually told before I signed on that I wouldn’t be doing it.” He laughs. Despite not having any formal musical training, he recorded Lurker‘s synthy, R&B-tinged original songs, written and produced by Dijon and Kenny Beats. “I came to understand what’s so addictive about being a musician,” he says. “And I think in another world, I would love to pursue that.”

And training aside, Madekwe has been practicing for this moment for years. “But listen, I’m still the reigning king of karaoke, so I’m going to let that do the talking for now.”

This story appeared in the Aug. 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.