Harry Lawtey: 'I became mildly obsessed with Richard Burton'

After playing a key part in Joker: Folie à Deux last year, his next big screen role is a slightly daunting one: portraying iconic actor Richard Burton in a new film about his early days, which also stars Toby Jones and Lesley Manville.

Of course, Burton is one of the most legendary thespians ever produced on these shores, and so it's no surprise that Lawtey already held him in high esteem prior to taking on the role, as he explained in this week's issue of Radio Times magazine.

He said: "I went through a phase of studying actors like Richard Burton when I was at drama school [he attended the Drama Centre in London]. Richard always burns off the screen.

"Last year I saw The Motive and the Cue, a play about Richard’s relationship with Sir John Gielgud when they were doing Hamlet on Broadway," he added. "I watched it, loved it, became mildly obsessed with Richard and a few weeks later, by chance, I was asked to audition for Mr Burton."

After he was cast, he naturally undertook further research, but he explained he "was selective in what I read" owing to the particular focus of the film.

"We weren’t covering the hellraising years, so I had to be careful not to get too fascinated with what happened after our story finished," he said.

"We wanted the DNA of that in our film, but it’s not the story we’re telling. Anyway, you could never make a film of Richard’s whole life; what he packed into it was staggering."

One aspect of research that was especially helpful to Lawtey was meeting Burton's daughter Kate Burton – herself an established star of dramas such as Grey's Anatomy and Scandal – who served as a consultant on the film.

"I had barely come to terms with getting the role when I was asked if I’d like to meet her!" he explained. "I was feeling the burden of playing an iconic person, a Welsh national hero. It’s not the same gig as playing a fictional character; as an actor you can be bad, but you can’t be wrong.

"I had to take ownership of Richard, but then I met Kate and thought, 'He’s not mine at all; he belongs to you!' We had some special conversations on set. She was so generous with his spirit and memory."

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Mr Burton is released in UK cinemas on Friday 4th April 2025.

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