The surreal, neon-soaked horror movie Last Night in Soho bends time and reality as young fashion student Eloise "Ellie" Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) finds herself mysteriously drawn into Swinging London. Unfortunately, the '60s bloody secrets follow her back to the present. As Ellie loses her grasp on reality, it's her classmate and budding love interest, John (Michael Ajao), who keeps Ellie grounded as she faces ghosts steadily resurfacing around the eponymous London neighborhood ready to consume her.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Ajao shared the lessons he learned from working on Last Night in Soho with its all-star cast and crew. The Last Night in Soho star also dished on a deleted scene that is omitted from the home video release and discusses what it was like to work so closely with filmmaker Edgar Wright to bring his imaginative thriller to life.
Michael, how did you land the role of John for Last Night in Soho?
Michael Ajao: I got a call from my agent telling me that [casting director] Nina Gold wanted to see me about a role and there were loads of NDAs. We didn't really know what it was. It was very secretive. They gave me two scenes, one of which was deleted from the film where I'm on a bridge. I had [another] call where I met with Edgar Wright, which was really nice because we were able to reconnect after so many years. Literally, two days after that, they wanted me to do a chemistry read with Thomasin and my agent texted me five days later letting me know I got the role!
I feel like Edgar can be a very specific filmmaker in what he's looking for in every aspect of the production, including actors' performances.
It was so refreshing because one of the things that makes Edgar so brilliant is he overshoots on purpose. He has a big shot list. Also, he uses rehearsal time very well, in terms of people rehearsing scenes like the dance sequences ages before we actually shot it. As an actor, it gave me so much relief because sometimes you don't get a chance to film [scenes] chronologically. It can get very hard to remember where your character is and the mindset of your character. Those rehearsals really helped me know my character inside and out. When I was on-set, I was performance-ready.
One of my favorite scenes in the film is the Halloween party, which has a lot of moving pieces to it and where everything comes to a head.
It's crazy because, depending on what the camera can see, behind the camera, there's nothing there. Logistically, because of the building. there can't be two hundred people in the room at the same time and we're moving things in and out. We had so many extras who were just so willing and patient. It was such a great experience to see everybody willing to come on board and we had extra people doing makeup and costuming -- everyone was there.
I remember this moment where we were about to run out of time and we literally had two minutes to get that shot where Eloise looks at Sandie and then looks back and sees the Shadow Men and Matt Smith, and when I look I see that there's no one there. We literally had two minutes to turn that over and get it done. I remember feeling the adrenaline rush to get this right because if we got this wrong, it would've messed up everything. We got it. I remember that feeling of collaboration and togetherness was amazing.
That was all in-camera? I was so surprised by how much Edgar did with practical effects for this film.
Yeah, that scene that you saw, there were no second takes of that. It was all in one [take]. I remember Edgar and [cinematographer] Chung Chung-Hoon being so sure and I had to trust them! [laughs]
How was it finding your chemistry with Thomasin?
With Thomasin, it was all so organic. From the moment I met her in the chemistry read, I was so surprised at how cool this young girl was at such a tender age. She has got such an amazing family. I remember clicking with her family and finding out we both enjoy Harry Potter and all these little things and just being able to bounce off each other. We also had intimacy coaches so in doing those intimate scenes, there was a lot of respect. It gave me such ease and confidence with this person that I was playing against was a nice and cool person.
You also got to share scenes with the late, great Diana Rigg. How was it working with her and did she impart any lessons to you?
I remember doing the climax of the film and her being so complimentary of my performance and what I was doing, saying I was doing a great job. That's the type of person that she was, even when she was filming. The inner strength one has to bring themself into work and still wear a smile and have that energy where she was bringing treats for people on set was amazing to me.
Between this and Attack the Block, you're doing films that depict English cities in extreme lights -- either under alien invasion or haunted by literal ghosts from the past. What is it about sci-fi and horror that keeps you creatively fulfilled as an actor?
I feel like it's more than being an actor but what it means for me is also being a Black actor, in terms of what we can do. I'm going for stories that stretch people's imaginations of what it means to be Black. Yes, they are stories about the urban demographic and trauma but they're also stories that are uplifting and Black people in positions where they're not just urban -- in this, I'm playing a fashion student -- they're being characters that have optimism to have careers that maybe the mainstream world doesn't think we can do. That's what draws me to sci-fi because it's always stretching people's imaginations.
John is always the anchor for Ellie amidst all their preppy classmates. How did you find his voice specifically?
I imagined him as someone who does come from the urban demographic from South London. He's the outlier in terms of he doesn't want to play football or do music. He wanted to do fashion. The reason why he can't express how he feels out in the open where he lives is that it might be frowned upon in terms of why he wanted to do fashion.
Being an outcast and in the position where you want to do something out of the ordinary is the reason I was able to connect with Eloise so much and find a voice in that. These are two young people who are talented and gifted but they lack confidence in certain areas because of what they've experienced and where they come from, and that really helped me find his voice.
You mentioned one of the scenes you auditioned with was deleted from the final film. What did that scene entail?
To give you more context, it was diving into what actually happened with Eloise's mum. We all hear she committed suicide in that scene in the hall with Jocasta and the girls. This was diving into that a bit more and I feel like it was the moment where John was able to see that there's more to this quiet, timid girl who lacks confidence. There's pain there and I feel like that's what made them connect.
It's interesting because when you rehearse so much for that scene and it's not in the film, it's crazy but you still get the sense of it being in the film because you still get that connection, intimacy, and respect for both characters.
With Last Night in Soho available on home video, what are you most excited about getting to share this project with the world, and what are the biggest lessons you learned from working on it?
One of the biggest gifts from being in a film is legacy because I was 21 when I filmed this -- 21-year old Michael will always exist forever. More and more people can see the film and that version of me, that's really special. What I've taken from this experience of learning with Edgar and being in this film is that there is no wrong question. Just be brave and open to trying new things because one of the great things about Edgar is he always encouraged me to offer new options, like what it would look like in a scene if my thoughts were more internal and expressive.
I feel like that's just given me more confidence for the next job. I'll be taking more risks and expressing my style of acting to the world.
Produced, directed, and co-written by Edgar Wright, Last Night in Soho is available now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD.