This story accommodates major spoilers from Chapter Eight Shogun“The abyss of life”.
On FX Shogun, Cosmo Jarvis stands out. This is to be expected from the role of John Blackthorne, an English naval pilot whose besieged ship and crew sail right into a Japanese fishing village in the 1600s. But the pale skin of the 34-year-old actor will not be his only distinguishing feature. Throughout the 10-episode limited series, Jarvis operates in a relentless state of agitation. He speaks with a comically rough, distorted accent. It wanders along the rocky shore on clumsy sea legs. His short, unkempt hair hangs on his head like a poorly fitted wig. Mostly he moans and growls with a vein-throbbing and eccentric physicality, as in the third episode when Blackthorne calls out a Japanese soldier for a girl’s private carriage.
“His VULLLLLGARRRRRR– he shouts. That word had been floating around in my head since it left his mouth.
Born in New Jersey and raised in England by his British father and Armenian-American mother, Jarvis initially pursued a career in music before catching the acting bug. He first gained attention as Florence Pugh’s romantic interest in 2016 Lady Macbeth, later combining marginal action roles and multi-episode parts Peaky Blinders AND Raised by wolves. But Shogun, created by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo based on James Clavell’s 1975 historical novel, marks his breakout performance. The series’ success and record-breaking viewership is something he still hasn’t fully gotten over. “It’s amazing that something you’ve worked on can be seen and, for all intents and purposes, enjoyed,” he says GQ during a recent Zoom call.
As the series progressed, Blackthorne transformed from a political chess piece to Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) to his trusted Hatamoto (a high-ranking samurai and military advisor). However, recent events have put Toranaga’s master maneuverer in danger, forcing Blackthorne to make a choice regarding his future and loyalty. In the eighth episode, after reuniting with one of the English crew members and then beating him unconscious, he agrees to join forces with Yabushige (Todanobu Asano), who he believes will allow him to finally set sail again and fight the Portuguese.
During our conversation, Jarvis opened up about Blackthorne’s state of purgatory, shared insights on embracing a new culture, and recalled the complexity required for his unique vocal styling.
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Your voice is so striking on this show. How did you identify what Blackthorne would sound like, especially in relation to the other Japanese characters?
Well, it was a protracted process. You’re coping with a text that takes place on this very specific a part of history. My initial instinct was that I might do every little thing I could to have a good time the period through which humans looked as if it would exist. English at the moment wouldn’t have been comprehensible to a contemporary English speaker. If I met someone from seventeenth century England, I would not give you the chance to grasp a word they said. This was something I stumbled upon quite early on, so I needed to stop a variety of my early attempts searching for approximations of what an individual might need appeared like back then.
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