In the new issue of AnOther, the rising actor and filmmaker talks about his deep connection to his red Japanese maple tree
This article is taken from the Autumn/Winter 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine:
“Inspiration is such a mysterious thing. It’s almost like we don’t need to think about it. You just have to show up and then inspiration comes on its own terms. If I’ve hit a wall or I’m ruminating, I often end up in the back yard – either sitting on the step, deep in thought, or pacing around like a caged lion. My wife [the actor Sophia Di Martino] and I bought our red Japanese maple tree a decade ago when we moved into our first flat in east London. It was 4ft tall, an impulse buy at a local garden centre. I grew to like it, so when we moved we took it with us. It’s at least 15ft now and often in my eyeline when I’m working. Maybe on a subconscious level it makes me think of some of the Japanese directors I admire, like Hirokazu Kore-eda, and the Japanese films I watched in my early twenties to self-educate, such as [Katsuhito Ishii’s] The Taste of Tea. After I moved back to England from Tokyo when I was eight, my mum’s mum and my aunt who lived in Japan would send boxes of VHS tapes with recorded Japanese TV on them. I also love that the tree goes such a deep red in autumn. It’s somehow gentle but its colour gives it a spirited feeling that I like. I’ve spent hours out in that yard wondering if inspiration is on its way.”
Will Sharpe’s poise and measured calm shouldn’t come as a surprise given his polymathic career. He’s blazed a trail writing and directing the British dark comedy series Flowers and HBO’s surreal and grisly miniseries Landscapers – both featuring Olivia Colman. As an actor, his scene-stealing role as a troubled sex worker in the BBC and Netflix’s Giri/Haji earned him a Bafta; and in the second series of Mike White’s Emmy-winning The White Lotus, he starred as the reserved tech bro Ethan and won a Sag award alongside his co-stars, marking his Hollywood breakthrough. Of his latest project, directing the adaptation of Korean-American Michelle Zauner’s 2021 bestselling memoir, Crying in H Mart – a story about family, food, grief and identity – Sharpe says: “It resonated deeply with me as someone who is Japanese-British. The specificity with which she tells her own story has opened it up to make it feel universal. It feels honest and authentic to that experience, so you can map your own equivalent onto it.”
Hair: Liz Taw at The Wall Group using R+CO. Make-up: Rebecca Davenport at LGA Management using TOM FORD BEAUTY
This story features in the Autumn/Winter 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale now. Order here.