Micheal Ward on Eddington, Learning From Joaquin Phoenix, Next Film

Micheal Ward’s big “Cannes moment,” as he describes it, should have come five years ago.

“Lovers Rock,” the reggae-infused romance in which he played a charming singleton at a London house party and arguably the most critically adored film from Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology series, had been selected for the 2020 festival. Then, COVID-19 hit and the event was canceled for the first time since WWII.

Ironically, Ward’s first trip to the Cannes Film Festival wound up coming earlier this year courtesy of a feature set during the pandemic — Ari Aster’s wild, all-star modern-day Western satire “Eddington,” landing in cinemas via A24 on Friday.

But the 27-year-old Brit wasn’t merely feted on the red carpet of the Palais alongside his co-stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone. Just a day after the premiere, he was given a special breakthrough artist award from Variety and the Golden Globes (presented to him by Aster). Perhaps it was good to have been made to wait a little longer.

“Everything happens at the right time,” Ward tells Variety. “I feel like this experience of going to Cannes with these amazing people, while it was definitely surreal for me, was a moment that you should never forget. It was a really special feeling and a really special moment for myself.”

And the Ward that came to Cannes in 2025 was very different to the actor who would have attended in 2020. In the five years since his festival near-miss, he’s been slowly building an impressive — and impressively varied — career for himself.

Having already won the BAFTA Rising Star award in 2019 (largely for his breakout roles in London gangland drama feature “Blue Story” and London gangland drama series “Top Boy”), “Lovers Rock” brought him a BAFTA TV nomination in 2021. Two years later, he earned a BAFTA film nomination for his acclaimed performance alongside Olivia Colman in Sam Mendes’ tribute to cinema “Empire of Light.” Further roles would include Jeymes Samuel’s wild biblical comedy “The Book of Clarence” (as Judas), a small part in “Bob Marley: One Love” and Netflix’s warm-hearted soccer drama “The Beautiful Game.” “Eddington” — being produced by A24, directed by Aster and packed out with stars (Austin Butler and Luke Grimes are also among the cast) — marks another rung up the ladder.

As it turns out, “Eddington” may not have happened without “Lovers Rock.” Ward auditioned over Zoom for the role of Michael Cook, a newly-minted and dedicated police officer in small town New Mexico under the leadership of Phoenix’s increasingly reactionary sheriff — a lawmaker who goes to war with Pascal’s progressive mayor. But it was only after he got the part that he learned he already had a McQueen-aided leg up. “I found out later on that Ari had watched ‘Lovers Rock’ and had loved me in that,” he explains.

“Eddington” has proven to be a difficult film to explain. It’s part broad satire, part caper comedy and part scathing analogy on the divided state of the U.S. today that takes aim at conspiracy theories, white privilege, gun culture and much more.

“If I’m being completely honest, I feel like even Ari didn’t know how to describe it,” recalls Ward. “He kind of just let us be decisive and divisive with how we felt about it. So we had loads of conversations about the character. And for me, what I try to bring to every role is authenticity.”

With that in mind, he dove into the world of Michael Cook to understand what it was like to be a “Black guy living in small-town America where there aren’t many Black guys.” For help, he turned to an ex-police officer friend in New York, the author and civil rights activist Edwin Raymond, who had worked on “Monsters and Men” with another of Ward’s friends, Reinaldo Marcus Green.

“Edwin told me lots of stuff about how it was for a Black officer when people were protesting in New York,” he says. Raymond also linked Ward up with local Black police officers in small towns such as the fictitious Eddington, which he acknowledges have a “very different vibe” to NYC.

His biggest takeaway from these chats was that it was essential to “wear the badge with honor,” and, in cases where right and wrong were yet to be established, they “always had to take the police’s side.” As a Brit with little knowledge of the U.S. police system, he also got to know the various ranks of officers and got his head around the concept that to become a sheriff you don’t necessarily need to have any police experience — “it’s just a popularity contest!”

For Ward, who also did extensive research for his roles in “Lovers Rock” and “Empire of Light” — both set in 1980 (he was born in 1997) — “Eddington” was the first contemporary film he needed to take some time to work on. “That was a special journey with this character,” he says.

It was a film that also saw Ward go toe-to-toe across numerous scenes with Phoenix, who eventually turns on his young recruit. While he claims to be rarely intimidated when meeting A-list stars, he’s glad the first time he was introduced to the Oscar winner “was not on camera.” But they soon got to know each other. “He’s just cool… a cool cat. He cracks jokes and it was great to see that even someone at his level doesn’t take himself too seriously.”

Watching Phoenix on and off set proved to be an education. First up, his work ethic — even on supposed days off.

“He just always wanted to work. There was one weekend where he was like, ‘Well, nobody’s got anything to do so we can just rehearse,’” he says. “And if he wants to work, now I want to work.”

While shooting, the main inspiration for Ward was watching Phoenix’s ability to “come with something fresh and new with every take, so it never feels the same,” he says. “I feel like it’s so powerful to do that and it was the biggest thing that I took away, because he very seldom did the same thing twice.”

Ward says he’s taken that acting lesson directly to his next project. Now shooting in Wales (he’s been speaking from a hotel in Cardiff), “Uncle” is something altogether different — a revenge thriller from writer-director Joe Marcantonio in which a teenage girl and her uncle (Ward) embark on a violent quest for retribution after their family is murdered.

It’s a much smaller film compared to anything he’s been in recently, but one that gives him a great lead role to truly sink his teeth into and showcase his abilities. It’s also his most action-heavy role to date. The scene shot on the day of our interview involved an elaborate scene in which his character (“Who’s mad!,” he says) has to pull a guy out of a car and jump in while revving the engine. “I felt like a stuntman!”

“Uncle” is also a film Ward says should cater to those who were fans of his early breakout roles in “Blue Story” and “Top Boy,” fans he admits may have been less interested in what he’s done since.

“It’s exciting for me, because I feel like the movies that I’ve made recently have not really been for them, they were for my career,” he says. “But when I read the script for this I just thought, this is something that people who know me from ‘Top Boy’ and ‘Blue Story’ and that kind of world are going to love. I think it’ll be really sick.”