'I'm not trying to have the most fun I've ever had any more':  Jack O'Connell insists he's mellowed since landing major Hollywood role in Unbroken 

By Jason Chester for MailOnline

Published: 11:39 EST, 23 December 2014 | Updated: 16:59 EST, 23 December 2014

He’s come a long way since his breakout TV role in Skins, but Jack O’ Connell admits the cheeky on-screen personas that paved the way for his first Hollywood role were not too far removed from his off-screen personality. 

The 24-year-old actor takes the lead in Angelina Jolie’s second directorial effort, Unbroken, as former American athlete and prisoner of war Louis ‘Louie’ Zamperini.

But while the gritty new role has widened his international appeal, O’Connell tells the January issue of GQ that it was a boisterous attitude during his teenage years set him on the path to success.

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Matured: Unbroken star Jack O'Connell talks about his boisterous teenage years and his new found maturity in the latest issue of GQ magazine

Matured: Unbroken star Jack O'Connell talks about his boisterous teenage years and his new found maturity in the latest issue of GQ magazine

Plenty to talk about: Jack's full interview can be read in the January issue of GQ magazine 

Plenty to talk about: Jack's full interview can be read in the January issue of GQ magazine 

‘Jack the Lad' was on my school report,’ he reflected. ‘It used to say that my Jack the Lad mentality was disruptive to meself and everyone else's education.'

But while his forthright character may well have aided him with past roles, the Derbyshire born actor insists he has since matured and mellowed.

‘I'm not trying to have the most fun I've ever had ever, anymore, you know?’ he said. 

‘That used to be the mentality every time I left the house. But things are going the way I want now. I've got my plants on my roof terrace, and I like watering them. I'm quite boring.’

An accompanying shot appears to reinforce his mature new outlook and finds him cutting a dapper figure in a smart two-piece suit, shirt and pencil tie while dashing across the Thames embankment carrying a leather attaché case.

O’Connell worked closely with Angelina Jolie on the set of his new film, which charts former distance runner Zamperini’s years of imprisonment after his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Referring to their relationship in a previous interview with Esquire, he admitted she made him feel at ease throughout the difficult filming process.

'She had compassion,’ he explained. ‘She supported me throughout. If I’m watching her treat everyone as an equal, that made me feel exactly like that, too.

'I spent time with her in the rehearsal period. She set up meetings with my mum and some of my family.

'So, by the time we go to the set, it felt like I had a bit of a friend. But it was a massive leap for me, a much more expensive realm of the industry.'

New role: Jack stars alongside Garrett Hedlund in Angelina Jolie's new World War II epic, Unbroken 

New role: Jack stars alongside Garrett Hedlund in Angelina Jolie's new World War II epic, Unbroken 

 

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