Micheal Ward was so thrilled about the existence of the role of Stephen, an aspiring architect navigating loneliness and romance in 1980 coastal England in Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light,” that even though he wanted it badly, he didn’t keep the role’s availability to himself.
“I love seeing a character like Stephen, full of hope, full of lightness, not a bad bone in his body, but still a well-rounded Black character,” says the 25-year-old Jamaican British actor. Though he’d met with the Oscar-winning director for the role and felt good about his prospects for it, he decided to spread the excitement. “When the open casting went out, I helped one of my good friends audition for it, because I was like, ‘If I don’t get it, at least one of my friends [might].’”
It’s a generosity not unbefitting the role Ward would indeed eventually land, and his portrayal of compassion and strength opposite Olivia Colman’s kind, troubled movie theater manager has garnered him the kind of attention that seeds very long careers, which this talkative, engaging and alert young man is decidedly in favor of. Having shot to prominence in only a few years after segueing from modeling into noteworthy turns in the UK series “Top Boy” and the films “Blue Story” and “Small Axe: Lovers Rock,” and a BAFTA Rising Star award in 2019, he cites the varied, unpinnable careers of Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Kaluuya as his goal. Ward takes to heart what Steve McQueen, who directed him in “Lovers Rock,” keeps telling him: “He says, ‘Just keep people guessing. Keep playing different roles.’ To hear that from Steve is reassuring.”
Being grounded is important to Ward, too. His mother and three sisters, whom he’s close to, help on that front, as do the friends who’ve always been there. He also recalls something from an interview he read with rapper Drake. “He said, when the highs come, enjoy it, but don’t get too invested, because when the lows come, you don’t want to get too invested in them, either.
Ward likes a collaborative partner in crafting a role, and he found two on “Empire” — in Mendes, who sought Ward’s input in making sure Stephen resonated with him as a Black man, and acting coach Gary Nurse, who as a young Black dancer in a socially turbulent 1980s England could clue Ward in to racism’s manifestations at the time.
“It was understanding that you would expect to be heckled on the way to the shop,” says Ward, whose character finds himself in threatening situations a couple of times in “Empire.” “[Gary] lived through that period. You’d have to be willing to fight every time you leave your house. Whereas for me, bad things do happen, but I’m not thinking I’m going to fight someone today because of the color of my skin.”
Research was also an essential tool for Ward, and in one instance it convinced Mendes to change a reaction Stephen had at a key moment: when he and Colman’s character, Hilary, share a rooftop view on New Year’s Eve, and the script called for Stephen to point out the building he lived in and act embarrassed by it. Ward unearthed a piece of information about the real structure, however, that would make a budding architect feel differently.
“The building has curves, and it’s so everyone could get a view of the sea,” says Ward. “If Stephen lives in this building, he’s going to know it’s unique, that there was nothing like it back then. So he’d be proud, and he’d know his mom worked hard to allow him to live in that place.” Ward says Mendes was open to such changes, not in a thumbs up/thumbs down way, but as possibilities. “It just gives you a different kind of angle to go down, which I found really amazing.”
Ward came to see his character as someone whose choice of calling gave him reason to look up, to stand tall and not feel down just because life has dealt him blows. “He’s not weighed down by society,” says Ward. “He’s looking forward to the future. When you have an eye for meticulousness, your head is up a lot of the time. He’s taking things in.”
As for working opposite Oscar winner Colman, Ward says slipping into Stephen on those days was as much about his own feelings once he got to spend time with her. “When you see a glistening in Stephen’s eye, when he’s smiling at Hilary, it could just be me looking at Olivia and thinking how amazing this woman is,” says Ward. “She makes everything feel real; you don’t even feel like you’re acting with her.”
Yet he also knows that in this profession, caring deeply will carry you through the breezy times and the more difficult circumstances. “The exciting part is being passionate about the story you’re telling and the character you’re playing,” he says. “Once that is covered, you can sit for hours in the cold and keep your jacket on in boiling heat without complaining. Passion leads the way.”
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