INTERVIEW: Theo James Discusses Romance and His Most Awkward kiss With Harpers BAZAAR

Theo James’s sits down with Harpers Bazaar while visiting New York from the Atlanta set of Allegiant, the series’ next installment, as the face of Hugo Boss’s new scent, The Scent. (If you want to smell Hugo Boss ‘Boss The Scent’ for yourself enter to win a bottle from us!)  And Scent has a “theme,” James, dapperly outfitted in a crisp Hugo Boss suit, leans in playfully to tell them: seduction. His notes on the topic? “Difficult territory without sounding like a twat,” the Brit blushes, revealing an endearingly bashful side (he made them tell him their first kiss story before telling them his) While they doused themselves in ‘The Scent’ Theo opens up about his most awkward kiss, getting to know co-star Shailene Woodley, and what a hot guy, in this case, is made of.

What’s been your strangest fan interaction since Divergent?

Theo James: Usually they’re pretty pleasant. For example, when I was on the plane, the guy next to me was like, “I happen to be Skyping with my girlfriend, and she’s a big fan of the films, so he turned the phone, and I waved.” I like that sort of thing. But we were at Comic Con with my brothers once, and a girl managed to convince my brothers that she was a friend of my agent’s or something like that. When I got back to the hotel after doing some press, they were like “Mindy is here, but she seems a bit weird.” I was like, “Who the fuck’s Mindy?” She was sitting there, and she couldn’t stop crying. So that was…

Terrifying?

Theo James: Yeah. My brother slept with her. No, I’m just kidding.

What’s the most awkward scene you’ve ever filmed?

Theo James: There were a few. I’ve had one intimate scene where the girl’s boyfriend turned up. And that wasn’t great, I’ve got to say. Because it was, you know—it wasn’t just a kiss, as you’d say.

Do you remember your very first role?

Theo James: My mom actually reminded me of this. So, yes, I do because we were talking about it only a couple of days ago. I played King Herod in a primary school production. Tyrannical. I remember—I was only about seven, but I had a whip. And I was very pleased with the whip.

When you joined Divergent, did you have any idea how popular the series would become?

Theo James: In a way I tried to stay away from that thinking, but it had a big following. It’s nice that people have stayed invested in it.

Do you do any of your own stunts?

Theo James: I do pretty much everything, actually. It helps that my character kind of just beats everyone up.

What’s your training like?

Theo James: We’re running around for 14-hour days in Hotlanta, so on a practical level you can’t be completely out of shape. But Four has this rock-type personality, so I have to get back to that.

Whom are you closest with on set?

Theo James: Shailene. We’ve done three of these now plus all the press together, so we have a fairly good short hand. We know each other pretty well.

Tell me a little bit about the fragrance I just doused myself in.

Theo James: The Scent. It smells a little bit like fruity gunpowder. It sounds like a made-up story, but they used a fruit they found in the jungle in South Africa that’s never been used for a fragrance. It’s quite masculine.

It really is—oh well, I’ve made my commitment. It’s also all about seduction. What are your seduction secrets?

Theo James: I’ve bee seducing you this whole time. My seduction secrets? It’s hard to tell your own seduction secrets—difficult territory without sounding like a twat. But seduction to me is someone who’s able to have fun and embrace the moment but not take themselves too seriously. That’s kind of attractive to me.

What was your best-ever screen kiss?

Theo James: What was your best screen kiss?

Well, I’ve never had one. What was your first kiss?

Theo James: Her name was Roselyn. I was pretty young for a full-on snog, I remember. So I remember being, kind of, taken aback by the concept of it.

What, to you, is the meaning of romance?

Theo James: I thought you were about to say life! The meaning of romance is spontaneity. I’m not great with gifts, but I’m good at random fun stuff, like taking trips and being able to say “fuck it” and go somewhere for a weekend.

Having fun in a relationship is really important and I think they could be romantic if he put his mind to it.

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