‘The Following” was an immediate hit for Fox. (
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Life doesn’t get any beter than living in Rome for 2½ years. I was happy as a pig in s–t.” — James Purefoy on the series ‘Rome’ (©HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection)
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If not for raging hormones in his youth, British actor James Purefoy might be toiling in white-collar drudgery across the pond, rather than creeping out 9 million American viewers every week as serial killer Joe Carroll on the Fox drama “The Following.”
As an 18-year-old college student eyeing a career in advertising, Purefoy stumbled on a performance class and was more mesmerized by ladies in tights and leg warmers than by a storyboard. “There were 16 girls and four boys — and I liked the odds,” he says with a chuckle. “I became an actor really because of girls.”
Since then, Purefoy, 48, learned to focus on his craft, compiling a three-decade mix of stage, film and television parts.
On “The Following,” the handsome, classically trained actor morphs into an alluring, manipulative cult leader who angles to stay one step — or, more accurately, one body — ahead of his nemesis, world-weary ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon).
For Purefoy, the show is a perfect fit. “I’m not a big fan of what I call ‘ambient’ TV. I don’t like TV just to wash through me,” Purefoy says. “I like my television to grab me by the throat and shake me — and that’s what this show does.”
Executive producer Marcos Siega appreciates the irony of casting an affable actor like Purefoy. “Putting someone who’s inherently charismatic and charming in that role, you don’t focus so much on him being a serial killer,” he says. “I think there will be people who — I don’t want to say root for him — but enjoy that character.”
Born and raised in a rural area of Somerset, England, Purefoy studied at London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. But the stage actor blossomed when he signed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in his early 20s.
“I felt completely at home. That was my drama school,” he says. “When I left, I had 17 different smaller production or understudy parts in my head. Which is a great learning curve because it makes you very, very disciplined.”
Bacon praises Purefoy’s work ethic as an elevated English standard. “He’s incredibly well-prepared,” he says. “A lot of British actors do a tremendous amount of homework. It’s not like they kind of run to the set and figure it out.”
Purefoy says his dedication is more practical than ethnic. “The difference is fear. I don’t want to arrive on the set not knowing what I’m doing,” he says. “That scares the crap out of me!”
Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Purefoy focused on stage work, doing everything from “Hamlet” to “Death of a Salesman.” He later added film parts to his résumé, including 2001’s “A Knight’s Tale” opposite Heath Ledger (“He was just the sweetest soul and a good friend, and the world is a poorer place without him,” Purefoy says) and “Vanity Fair” with Reese Witherspoon in 2004.
The 6-foot-2, brown-eyed actor also twice wound up in the running to play the sexiest spy in film: James Bond. He remembers the possibility as “thrilling and exciting,” despite losing out to Pierce Brosnan for “GoldenEye” in 1995 and Daniel Craig for “Casino Royale” in 2006.
Purefoy’s career in America began to catch fire in 2007 with his appearance as Mark Antony on the HBO series “Rome.”
“Life really doesn’t get much better than living in Rome for 2 ½ years. The things they’re obsessed with all tend to begin with ‘F’: food, family, football — as in soccer — and f – – – ing,” says the cheeky actor. “I was happy as a pig in s–t.”
“Rome” fans may especially remember his nude scenes. While he isn’t shy about showing the full monty, Purefoy draws the line at doing it solely for titillation. “If I feel I am being manipulated to create popularity for a show by taking my clothes off, then I find that slightly offensive,” he says.
Purefoy’s role on “The Following” has the potential for a different type of exposure. “Audiences in America are not as familiar with me as at home,” he says. “That’s probably changing now.”
He recently was convinced of that when he accidentally bumped into a woman on a sidewalk in New York. “I turned around to apologize, and she looked up at me and screamed,” he relates. “It was a short scream, not a blood-curdling cry — but she’d watched the show the night before. That was an eye-opener.”
One viewer with less enthusiasm is Purefoy’s girlfriend, Jessica Adams, an art historian with whom he lives in New York during filming, along with their 4-month-old daughter Rose. (Purefoy also has a 16-year-old son, Joe, in London, with his ex-wife, British actress Holly Aird).
Before the premiere, Adams told him she was too scared to tune in. “I said, ‘Darling, don’t worry, I’ll sit and watch with you,’” Purefoy says.
“She looked at me and went, ‘Are you f—ing mad? Why would I want to watch this show with you on the couch next to me?’” he says, laughing. “She finds it fairly alarming.”