In his native Australia, they call it “the full Mendo”: the roguish scowl, gravelly voice, and dangling cigarette that accompany actor Ben Mendelsohn in his greatest roles. When Mendelsohn appears in something, he might as well have “ne’er-do-well” tattooed on his forehead.
This is not the Ben Mendelsohn we get in The New Look, the Apple TV+ series tracing legendary fashion designers’ lives in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. The New Look finds Mendelsohn reuniting with Todd Kessler for the first time since swampy Florida Keys thriller Bloodline, though the two worlds could not be further apart. (Danny Rayburn in Bloodline? The fullest Mendo possible.) Mendelsohn trades rumpled locks and sweaty linen for slicked-back hair and elegant suits to play Christian Dior. At the time, Dior was working for couturier Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich)—who was making dresses for Nazi officials’ wives—all while searching for his French Resistance fighter sister, Catherine (Maisie Williams), imprisoned in a work camp.
On a recent late morning in Los Angeles, where he lives, I spoke to Mendelsohn about inhabiting Dior. The Mendelsohn I got was more true to form: Over the course of our Zoom conversation, he devoured an egg sandwich, casually lit up a cigarette, and had no shortage of things to call “bullshit.”
GQ: So what do you get up to when you’re not working?
Ben Mendelsohn: I try and do nothing. My basic desire in life is to work and to lay around and just do as little as possible. I really like idleness.
Christian Dior is a very different role for you. What made you want to play him?
[Todd] Kessler is such an important part of my working life. I was going to do anything he wanted to do. [Dior’s] got a really strong sense of self-loathing and conflict about what he’s experiencing—his private, authentic self and who he feels he has to be in order to transact in the world. And that’s such a common sort of thing. That was the jumping-off point.
But really, the show is about being in enemy territory in your home. It’s really a big chance to go to France and go, “Hi, I’m Christian Dior.” And I think it’s important to try to work as close to the edge of what you might be capable of.
How familiar were you with his story?
Absolutely not at all. I knew nothing about it. And he worked in an area that wasn’t in any sort of interest to me or whatnot. I experienced him through the way everyone does: either through the shout-outs in hip-hop or the big name, la-la-la. But that’s what’s great about [Todd]. He’ll take that and find a way to bring you in, and off you go.
So you weren’t a fashion guy before this?
No, no, no. [Waves egg sandwich around.] I’ve been ribbed for a long time about what a crap dresser I am. And sometimes I’ve had periods where they’re like, “Oh, you dress really well.” But you just got wardrobe people, you got nothing to worry about.
How did you nail the French accent?
We had to find a place where it lives. A lot of sort of, “Where’s it going to be” and la-la-la. It’s sort of crazy. About a week in, it was like, off you go! And when you’ve got Juliette [Binoche], go for it. Try it on and see how you go.
Maisie Williams plays your sister Catherine. She’s about 25 years younger than you are. How did you navigate that age difference?
No, no, listen. Maisie kind of came in. Todd knew nothing of her and I was obsessed with her. I was a fucking megafan of her. Megafan. And she just came in—she wasn’t even being looked at or thought of for that role—heart and soul, boom, boom, boom, made it her own. Love her. Champion.
What’s the most surprising thing you learned about Dior?
What I think is interesting about him, in real terms, is how deeply guarded his ambition was. How far back that lives in him. He would never lead with that.
One thing that struck me is that you play him as very fragile, with his emotions right on his sleeve.
He’s a very gentle guy. He’s a guy that’s just trying to do his work and just trying to navigate this thing and to be faithful to his friends. He was an incredibly loyal person. And he was incredibly conflicted. That’s the greatest time of his life. What happens after this is something I really hope we get to go to.
His superstition is also a huge part of this.
Oh yeah. Madly. It’s awesome. He really was a very gentle, lovely guy who felt things very deeply. Who was profoundly expert and singular in the way he wanted to see the world and what he was trying to bring back to himself. This was a family who was a successful and good family who had crumbled to dust. And he was terrified of the curse of his name and his clan, and he just tore straight through.
Where did that deep ambition you mentioned come from?
That’s not important. None of that stuff matters. It’s all just boogedly-blagedy and what it is is what you do with it on the camera. All the rest is a bunch of crap that you can use to wank around with. It’s not important. I have a sense of it, but you can’t name it and talk about it, because you’re just jerking off. And it’s important not to jerk off about this stuff.
I’m guessing you’re not journaling from the perspective of your character, and all that.
I don’t waste time. I come from the ground. I’ve learned a way of doing what I do. It’s all bullshit. It’s all absolute bullshit. It’s about how to make the performances work on stage. And that’s it. Nothing more than that. After that it’s a bunch of [jerkoff motion] king of the castle bullshit.
Since you just reunited with Todd Kessler, do you think that we’re ever going to get more Bloodline?
I wouldn’t expect so, but I really don’t know. I mean, who knows? I’m not expecting it.
You’ve done Star Wars, Batman, and Marvel. Any of those big properties you want to return to?
I would almost give my eyes and teeth to play Doctor Doom. I think Doctor Doom is the great unread Marvel character that could and should be done. But it is what it is. I got to work with Spielberg, and I got to work with Terrence Malick, and I got to work with Ridley Scott. It’s been incredible. I didn’t think this ship was coming.
You also played Jessa’s dad on Girls for one episode.
Oh man, I loved getting to do Girls. That was so awesome. And Jemima [Kirke] is just awesome. I love Jemima, man. She’s such a fucking rock star.
The show has been having a huge resurgence in the past few years. What are your memories of it?
It’s an extraordinary achievement. We’ve never seen any character like Adam before. He showed this person that we’ve never seen. And Lena! Lena [Dunham] is such a gangster. She put that all together, she did all that. That was all her. That’s incredible, man. I could never do that shit.
I came across an interview with you from about 25 years ago when you said you’ve written some novels under a pseudonym.
Yeah, yeah. Listen, here’s the deal about interviews. You are free to say any shit you want to say. Because none of it matters. It’s got no bearing on anything, right? It’s something you do. And if you want to lie your fucking ass off, you are perfectly free. And it doesn’t matter. It’s not important. You know what I mean? I may have, I may not have. I’m free to talk shit. In this encounter, I have no responsibility to do nothing but attempt to entertain.
Well, have you written anything since then?
It’s hard for me to talk about writing. It’s a very personal experience. My attitude to this stuff has always been, this whole business, it’s only about entertainment. And there’s no need to sweat, there’s nothing else to it. Every bit of it, it’s only for an audience.
What was your first audience?
It was school and it was awesome. I really didn’t expect it, and it was just fucking awesome. It’s the best thing on earth if you’re built for this bullshit and this dumb career choice. But listen, I never wanted to be an actor. My excuse is that I started at 14 and I kept going.
So when did you realize you’re built for this bullshit?
When I survived the enormous drought and I came back and I realize I’ve got proper fucking endurance. If you get a second bite of the cherry in your life, you understand, man. You know how fucking sweet and lucky it is.
Now that you’ve got the second chance, anyone you still want to work with?
I would be more interested in trying to work on something in a country that is not mine, like a Korean film, a Hong Kong film. Something that was significantly different and I had a very high chance of failing. And if you can ever work with Mads Mikkelsen or Peter Dinklage, you must. Because they are the two most fucking fun and easiest and best fucking people to work with. Mads, oh, man, he’s awesome. And Peter Dinklage, I never fucking laughed so much in my life. They’re the best, man.
It sounds like you’re not too precious about your work. You’re in and you’re out.
Here’s the thing: You turn up, you don’t know what you’re doing, and you try to find a way. That’s it, full stop. It’s hard not to suck. That’s the default setting. And I sucked for enormous amounts of time. I hate jerkoffs. I hate people who jerk off about all this shit. I’ve been doing this for too long and I have no tolerance for it. Oh, man, fuck off. This stuff is so 1985.
What stuff is so 1985?
Nineteen eighty-five is the height of the worship of the method actor. It’s the period where it reaches its zenith and it starts to collapse in terms of its solidity as a doctrine. [Lights a cigarette.]
For the record: I’m glad some people still smoke during interviews.
One time I was on with someone and they were in the doctor’s office and they were like, [imitating American accent] “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t smoke.” And I was like, “Dude, I’m in my fucking house, man. Calm down, you boundary freak. What are you on about?”