Hailed as the standout star of The Gentlemen, Daniel Ings is a comedic tour de force. Portraying Freddy Horniman, the erratic and drug-addicted son of the late Duke of Halstead, the actor revelled in the humour and the darkness of the role.
Ahead of the series premiere, Daniel, 38, caught up with HELLO! at the Corinthia Hotel in London, where he revealed his favourite memories from set and revealed the little-known connection between himself and Theo James.
Asked about The Gentlemen's cast – that also includes Hollywood heavyweights Kaya Scodelario, Ray Winstone and Vinnie Jones – Daniel revealed that he was particularly keen to collaborate with Theo.
As it turns out, the pair were already familiar with one another, having each attended the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School – talk about a small world!
"I was super excited to get to work with Theo. We knew each other a little bit because we were at drama school. We were in different years, but we were at drama school at the same time," he explained.
"I'd seen him crop up in things and I'd followed what he was doing, and then, I guess right before we worked on it, his stuff in The white Lotus came out and I was just blown away by what he does in that, I think it was phenomenal.
"So I was really excited because I kind of knew he was a good dude as well, and that we were gonna have a good time doing it. I was gutted not to get to work with Giancarlo Esposito and Ray Winstone. So, you know, maybe another day!"
Reflecting on his favourite memories from set, Daniel recalled how he, Theo and their co-star, Michael Vu, got to know one another in between takes.
"I think there were days down in that weed farm, where it was me, Mike and Theo trying to wrestle with a scene. Trying to figure out, you know, how to push the humour or find the darkness in it. And I feel like we had some good some good lols down there," he laughed.
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The feeling was mutual for Michael, who delivers an equally hilarious performance as Jimmy Chang. Speaking to HELLO!, he recalled how supportive Daniel was during production.
"For me, watching Dan play Freddy the way he does, just watching him doing his own thing, adding stuff, taking things away, it was so cool to watch and learn from," he raved. "So when I was paired up with him just being around him, I was like this big kid and I'm actually older than Dan. I'm there like: 'This is my big brother, 'Like, tell me everything'.
"He would just tell me, 'Oh, you do that.' And he would sort of give me confidence, saying 'And what you did there was so cool. I really like that.'"