Words REUBEN HENRY-FELLOWS

“It was never something that I thought I could do,” Guy Remmers reveals to Man About Town about his time modelling. “It was a case of the right place at the right time.” The 28-year-old is a few years into a modelling career that has seen him signed to international agency IMG, however, as he now stars in his breakout acting role in Apple TV+ period drama The Buccaneers, it’s safe to say his unravelling talents on-screen certainly can’t simply be attributed to serendipity.

Based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning book of the same name, Remmers portrays the dashing Duke of Tintagel as the series follows a set of audacious American socialites on the hunt for an aristocratic British husband at the height of debutante season. Set in 1870s Cornwall, this modern period re-telling mixes all the elegance and suspense of the novel with a tantalising new love triangle centred around Nan St. George (Kristine Froseth), Guy Thwarte (Matthew Broome), and of course the Duke of Tintagel.

While viewers eagerly await the outcome of the show’s romantic entanglements, the actor sits down with us to talk the man behind the cravat, time modelling in Milan, experiences on the Bristol rave scene and how he honed his royal etiquette on the Cornish coast…

Hey, Guy! Massive congratulations on the success of the show! Could you take us back to the start of your own story – how did you find growing up in Bristol?
I remember lots of my friends and older brothers being garage DJs or house DJs and I had one friend whose family ran a club in Bristol called Lakota.  
 
Growing up in my early teen years, my friendship group, we just loved to go out and dance and rave and we had specific DJs we liked. I've always been fascinated by the garage scene and the kind of fashion and music that garage blended together.
 
Like the original garage raves, it was all about what you were wearing – two-piece garish Moschino and Versace suits. I've always been really fascinated by that aspect of it as well. I think Bristol combines that kind of music and fashion together. I've always loved to dance so those two things create someone who likes to rave.  
 

You’ve blended a career as a model and an actor so far – how did you become part of both of those industries?
I did lots of theatre as a kid. I was part of the Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company and did plays in London and Bristol from the ages of about 16/17 to around 20.  

I got scouted in the smoking area of a club in Bristol called The Love Inn and then I was thrown into [the modelling] world.  

Acting's been a constant dream and passion and something that I've been endeavouring in and practising since I was around 16, and the modelling interjected in the middle of that. It was really cool to see the fashion industry from that inside perspective and I got to work with some designers and fashion houses that I'd liked and purchased items from as a young teen. I just got really lucky.
 

Many have now come to know you through your role as the Duke of Tintagel on Apple TV+ show The Buccaneers. What was it that first drew you to the role?
I don't think I've said this before, but when I sent off my tape it was for a different character. I might try and let people try and guess what character it was for... [but] then I got a recall for Theo, a different role, and they thought I could be a good [fit].

I was excited by getting to play a Duke who has such status. What does that do to someone? The feeling of everyone always looking at you, that spotlight being on you since you were a kid, what does that do to your physicality? What does that do to your voice? How does that make you interact with other people? That was a very long-winded process.

How did you immerse yourself in the role of the Duke of Tintagel? 
I bought myself a portfolio and some paintbrushes and I tried to paint because it was something that I'd never done. I just tried to think, ‘Oh, why would someone like that want to paint and swim?’ I concluded that it’s all escapism. Then I thought ‘What was he trying to escape from?’ I created two Theos, two physicalities. Theo doing his duke duties and Theo who loves to paint and swim, which is the real him.  

We had a movement director who helped me [create two Theos] called Toby, who was amazing. At one point we just did an exercise where we would walk around the room and [Toby] would say, ‘Okay, you're in Duke–Theo mode’, and I’d do this royal kind of walk. Then he would say, ‘Now you're on the beach.’ It was just kind of trying to find that switch between Theo when he's presenting as a duke compared to when he's on his own. I wanted his movement to mirror how he might paint.
 

Kristine Froseth plays the lead role, Nan St. George. What was it like acting with her?
She's an amazing, unique talent and holds great screen presence when you're working with her. It's not something you can learn or train in my opinion. There were so many other actors in the job who I was so privileged to work with. Each actor has their own individual process and seeing how they would rehearse and how they would take notes was amazing. I think actors are tapestries of loads of different people they've worked with, and when you work with them you take things that resonate with you.  
 

Now the series is ending, what’s on the horizon for you as an actor?
I hope I continue to get to play roles that I really care about. One of my favourite jobs was a play that went to The National Theatre and so I think it's a dream of mine to go back to that stage. It’s also always been a dream of mine to be in a movie.
 

Are there any genres that you’re really interested in sinking your teeth into?
This job was a period piece and I would love to do many more period pieces to come. But I would also love to do contemporary gritty pieces. To be honest, it doesn't matter when it's set, whether it's set in space or set in the 1870s, if there’s a story, one that hooks my emotional nerves, then it’s one I'd want to be a part of.

So, we might see the Duke in Space? 
You never know, you never know.

Photography by Brennan Buchanan
Styling by Gregory Russill
Grooming by Charlie Cullen
Special Thanks to D10 Studios