Aaron Taylor-Johnson Reveals Why He’s Jealous of This Actor-Director Combo

Aaron Taylor-Johnson‘s career spans genres, from Marvel blockbusters to period horror films, offering him the opportunity to work with several talented filmmakers, including Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie, on their new heart-stopping heist thriller Fuze. While talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about the film, however, the actor admitted he’s a little “envious” of certain actor-director collaborations, like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, that he believes set the gold standard for moviemaking.

In Fuze, present-day London is hurled into chaos when a construction site unearths a bomb from World War II that failed to detonate. When the entire city is evacuated, a team of experts races against time to defuse the threat, but amid this chaos, a criminal operation takes advantage of the crisis. Fuze also stars Theo James, Saffron Hocking, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Elham Ehsas, and Sam Worthington.

Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where Taylor-Johnson recalls his first-ever memorable celebrity encounter and breaks down the process of working closely with a real-life EOD specialist, Nick Orr, and the authenticity that brought to the movie’s high intensity. He also discusses reuniting with Robert Eggers on their upcoming horror Werwulf and with Tom Ford on Cry to Heaven. For more on Fuze, be sure to check out our conversation with James below.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Reveals the Wild Way Jackie Chan Won Him Over as a Kid

He also shares how a recent young co-star inspired him for future sets.

Image: Nick Zonna/IPA/INSTARimages

COLLIDER: Before we get into the movie, which I thought was fantastic, I’ve been asking this question of everyone: Have you ever asked for someone’s autograph?

AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON: Wow. The first autograph I ever asked for was probably Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, or Goofy, or something like that. I must have been six years old at Disneyland Paris. I had the little booklet and everything. That was a thing. That was probably the last time. [Laughs] When I was a kid, I must have done a couple of things, and I had some sign things, but then after that, I didn’t really collect.

It probably was Jackie Chan. Do you know what the thing about Jackie Chan was? I was 12, by the way, and what Jackie Chan did was he sort of showered everybody in gifts of Jackie Chan merch. So that was like coats and bags and cool stunt gear, hats, and stuff like that. That was cool.

I’m not very good at doing that. I’m not very good at asking people for their signature, autographs, and things like that, but I should. I just did a movie, and there was a young boy, and he just had every actor sign the front of the script. I think that’s such a beautiful thing to hold on to. If anything else, I should have started that a long time ago and just collected that to give away or gift or whatever you can do in terms of the projects you’ve been on.

100%. And by the way, there’s no better time to start than on the next thing you do.

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: For sure.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Trained With a Real Bomb Disposal Expert

“He was on set with me every single day.”

Image via Roadside Attractions

You play someone who’s an expert at defusing bombs in the film, and I’m curious, did you actually meet anyone who defuses bombs, and did you notice that they have massive balls?

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: [Laughs] I can answer the first part of that question. Yes, on this movie, I worked with this great EOD specialist called Nick Orr, and he was really instrumental in the dialogue and the technical side of how to actually defuse a bomb, World War II explosive, but also I really gravitated to him as a character. He’s from Leeds, up north. He was also someone who left the military who’s now in privatized organizations and works around the world, globally. At the drop of a hat, you go off and do exactly that, detect these explosives, and it’s incredible. He has incredible composure and discipline, and has a side of authority that he carries with him. But then also, he’s someone who knows how to have gallows humor. He has a lot of banter and humor, and I find that so intriguing. The human side of someone, in those really tough times, hard times, they’re the sort of people who can crack the funniest jokes. It’s also a mechanism to get through these super high-stress, high-octane, life-or-death situations.

He was on set with me every single day. He was very instrumental in what I would say and do to the point where I’d take all of that, and the way that David Mackenzie shoots it, he films in a way that he just doesn’t say cut, so he’ll film for like 13, 15 minutes, and I’ll just go off, and I’ll tell these people to do what they need to do. The other cast were military guys, and they saw the badges I had on my lapel, and I had authority over them to tell them to do what I needed to do, because I knew exactly what Nick Orr would say, and the lingo and the way to do it, and the way that I would carry myself and the way that you use your voice, assert yourself in situations that are chaotic and crazy. You have to have a firmness but a calmness. Crisis management. You are someone who’s in crisis management mode. When alarms are going off, you have to stay calm, collective, really assertive, and so you kind of just adapt into that body, and you do that. But yeah, this guy was amazing.

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On reuniting with the filmmaker, he admits, “I look at great director-actor combos, and I’m envious of it.”

Image via Focus Features

I’ve got to touch on something, because I am a huge Tom Ford fan and a huge Robert Eggers fan, and David, and I’m just curious, what do you want to tell fans of both of theirs about your upcoming stuff, and what is it like to work with these incredible filmmakers?

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: Do you know what the beauty of that for me is? The real luxury is that I feel very privileged and honored to be working with these filmmakers again. When you get a call from a director you’ve worked with previously before, I feel immense privilege and so flattered because I admire them so much as filmmakers. It makes me feel like they actually enjoyed working with me. A reputation when you’re with your crew, and the way that you work as a collaborator, is really important to me. It’s a relationship that I want to build.

I look at great director-actor combos, and I’m envious of it. I’m jealous of that. Like, wow, to have that legacy like Scorsese and Leo and Scorsese in De Niro have. When you watch these movies like Fincher and Brad and Cassavetes movies, or all these sorts of things — Chris Nolan is another one who tends to stay with the same people — I think those relationships just get better and better. They build, and you get to explore, and you have a shorthand. Those are really important.

For the fans who are waiting for those two movies, I’m super thrilled and excited to be sharing those with everybody, and in due time, we can be talking about that another time. But, yeah, it’s great stuff. They’re great people and great filmmakers. I’m very, very fortunate to be working with them for a second time.

Theo James Most Intense ‘Fuze’ Scene Was Almost Entirely Improvised

“There’s stuff that didn’t make it into the movie.”

In addition to Taylor-Johnson, Collider also got to speak with Theo James, who gives more insight into working under the direction of Mackenzie. He says the director “likes it to be kinetic all the time,” which means keeping the set propulsive and encouraging more improvisation. “He just loves letting you run…but he lets you run for 20 minutes, so by the end of that you’re pretty fucking exhausted.” James goes on to discuss Mackenzie’s inspiration for Fuze, including Gene Hackman movies, and why the director isn’t a fan of hair and makeup or having too many cameras.

Be sure to check out the full interview above, where James explains why he was “mixed” about the ending of the movie at first, and how that led to material that they worked on together on the day, on set, and how Fuze will ultimately subvert audiences’ expectations. He also teases his upcoming WWII thriller, The Bookie & the Bruiser, with Vince Vaughn.

Fuze is in theaters nationwide now.

Release Date

April 24, 2026

Runtime

98 minutes

Director

David Mackenzie

Writers

Ben Hopkins

Producers

Gillian Berrie, Callum Grant, David Mackenzie, Sebastien Raybaud