“When we were done, we were done”: Nicholas Galitzine on Championing Indie Productions Like 100 Nights of Hero

Having hit cinemas last Friday, the 100 Nights of Hero star talks independent film, creative risk, and why moving between tiny productions and studio franchises is exactly where he wants to be.

Charli xcx is playing somewhere on set. The historical fantasy romance 100 Nights of Hero, starring the pop titan – making her film debut – Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe, Felicity Jones, Richard E. Grant and Nicholas Galitzine, marks Julia Jackman’s feature-length picture based on the graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg. Galitzine laughs now. “Brat was like, it was a movement at the time,” he says. “And it, of course, kind of became a soundtrack.” He admits he initially thought Charli would only be involved musically. “When we heard she was going to be part of the film as well, it was just so cool. We were all really excited to see what she’d bring.” 

The 31-year-old Londoner is not an actor building momentum anymore, but rather someone who can now afford, and desires, to bet on indie productions. Galitzine, who has previously starred in Bottoms, The Idea of You and numerous Netflix productions, wants to find the sweet spot between original, independent stories and the industrial scale of a studio machine that plans years. He shot his part in Jackman’s writing-directing debut in just ten days, while already months into physical preparation before starring as He-Man in Masters of the Universe. A very deliberate contrast that has been earned.

It was a no-brainer for him to join the production of 100 Nights of Hero when Jackman approached him with a letter asking him to do so, “I really believed in her, to be honest”, he says of the trust he felt for her vision. “I don’t even think Julia’s really reached her final form yet, which is really exciting. There is this sort of aspiration for so many actors to work with the greats, which I feel as well, but I think I also gain a lot of satisfaction out of working with someone new, and being able to discover their voice with them.”

In the film, Galitzine plays Manfred, a charming romantic figure defined less by heroism than by moral ambiguity, caught in a love triangle with Cherry (Maika Monroe), left alone by her husband for 100 days, and Hero (Emma Corrin), her maid. Rather than seducing her with romance, the character, who at one point is covered in blood, gifting her a stag’s head, does so through his robustness, “blending the drama with the humour and the morally grey characters,” he says.

With a budget under four million and a total of 26 days of shooting, the biggest challenge, and, at the same time, the most rewarding for the crew, was having to improvise under tight time constraints. “When we were done, we were done. The choices you’ve got to make, they’ve got to be your final choices. You just have to go for it.” The magic in the performances of this film comes from this. 

For Galitzine, moving between small productions and blockbusters is not a contradiction but a structure he wants to actively protect. “I think it was really the perfect encapsulation of the kind of career dynamic I would love to have for the rest of my career,” he says. When the actor discusses career choices he wants to make moving forward, “I love going from one tiny, tiny movie onto a huge, huge one,” he adds. “You find there is a sort of balance about the whole thing. It feels very grounding.”

Masters of The Universe, he insists, is “extremely creative,” with “something really human about it as well.” Independent film, by contrast, feels closer to his beginnings. “A bunch of actors in a small room, just trying stuff and seeing what works,” he says. “It almost feels more like theatre.”

The actor reminisces about those beginnings that were anything but romantic. Growing up in Hammersmith, Galitzine’s early career was defined by rejection and financial anxiety. For three or four years, he worked roughly on one feature for one month a year, which many considered a success. The reality is, it meant ten months of catering shifts and not knowing whether the next job would come. “You’re fantasising about the scraps,” he says. “Then you get that one month, or two months, and you’re injected with enough electricity that you think, my God, if only I could get that hit again.”

Over time, the hits became more regular. “You feel really satiated,” he says. “You’re thankful you stuck it out through the hard part.” What kept him there was not certainty, “ I had a sense of relaxation that I was gonna kind of end up where I needed to end up”, he adds. 100 Nights of Hero feels like the proof of that instinct. It’s a fitting role for an actor now comfortable relying on his own judgement, and one that signals where he is now.

100 Nights of Hero is in UK cinemas now.