Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Saving Paradise’s William Moseley

William Moseley has quickly established himself as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after young actors. Best known for the dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Royals, William has made it his mission as an artist to tell stories of the human condition.

His latest film, Saving Paradise, finds him stepping into the shoes of a ruthless corporate raider who is forced back to his small town when he suddenly inherits his father’s nearly bankrupt pencil factory. He must decide whether to let it close or join the community that’s fighting to save it.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with William about Saving Paradise, the thrill of independent filmmaking, and the power of change.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
William: That’s a very nice question. I discovered that I was going to be an actor when I was about ten years old. It happened through a casting director who was looking for kids to be in a BBC TV movie.

There’s a story written about my area in the Cotswolds in the Southwest of England, and they wanted kids that fit the look. They handpicked a bunch of random children. I was one of them. They asked us to come to an audition. They asked us to basically improvise these random scenes. I just thought it was really fun doing improvisation. They were asking us to be different people, and they were asking us to do different things.

I felt like something connected with me. I was like, “This seems fun. This doesn’t really feel like a real job.” I couldn’t believe that you get paid for it. I was like, “I’m going to do this for the rest of my life.” It was in that casting process that I figured it out.

Weirdly enough, that same casting director ended up casting me in Narnia. She asked me to audition for it. I went up for that role and ended up getting it. I suppose they say, “the rest is history.”

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
William: Other than that casting director, obviously, Andrew Adamson has had one of the biggest influences on me as an artist, as an actor, and as a person. There have been a couple of actors and actresses who have helped me along the way or told me things that I thought were very helpful. I worked with Tilda Swinton—she told me a couple of things that I thought were very poignant.

Some of the things that James McAvoy said to me were very poignant—Liam Neeson as well, and also Elizabeth Hurley. I learned a lot from Elizabeth’s professionalism, her discipline, her respect for everybody around her. I’ve learned a lot of things from a lot of different people. They might give you one line, and that one line you take with you.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
William: Funny enough, there was a moment very recently that stands out to me. I’ve done The Royals premieres. I’ve done incredible things. I’ve met the Queen at one of the premieres for Narnia—that was extraordinary.

But I was just at the Venice Film Festival, and I watched a film that I was in called Land of Dreams, which was premiering at the same time as this other film I’ve got called Saving Paradise. I hadn’t seen Land of Dreams, and I saw it on the big screen with an audience of five hundred. I felt really proud of it.

When I was younger, I used to watch artistic films. I used to watch Almodóvar’s movies as a child, which sounds weird, but I used to love them. I wanted to be a part of films like that, like Wim Wenders, and I wanted to be part of these beautiful movies that were about the human condition. When I finished Land of Dreams, I was like, “We’re on a big screen with all the sound and the beauty of the American landscape.” I thought, “Wow. That was really great. I’m really proud of that.” It was a cool moment.

PC: Speaking of Saving Paradise, can you tell us about the film and your character?
William: It’s a drama piece and a moral story. Without giving too much away, the story revolves around my character. It deals with themes of capitalism, the American dream, and his moral compass as a young man.

In the story, my character, Michael Peterson, is a corporate trader. Some people call them corporate raiders. After his father dies, he goes home to check on his father’s company, which is a grassroots family-run business supporting the local town.

Michael finds out that the company is in dire straits. It’s a moral quandary for him. What does he do? Does he sell the company off, basically making everybody unemployed—which his dad would have hated—or does he try and right the business with his acumen?

The story is based on true life. The writer, Van Billet, actually lived this life. He began his career as a corporate raider. Then, he changed his career path to help companies stay in America and helped them remain American-built companies by Americans for Americans and for a global community. I was honored that I got to play a young Van Billet. Van worked with Warren Buffet, and he was a very successful guy, so it was a real honor to be in that film.

PC: Like you just said, the story and character are based on Van’s own experience. Did that bring any pressure to the role? What was that collaboration like working with him?
William: I’m someone who loves direction and loves any bit of help. Anything that someone has, I’m like, “I’ll take it. I’ll take it.” Van talked to me a lot. I’d sit on set and ask him a few questions here and there. I’d ask, “What is this?” and he’d tell me what the real thing was.

It’s heartbreaking, actually. You have an American company—he specifically worked with a chewing gum company. I know it sounds mad, but it was a chewing gum company. I don’t know if it was in Mishawaka, Indiana, because that’s where the film is based. The chewing gum company was going to be sold. It was going to be outsourced and sent to a different place, and it was going to be done at a very cheap price. People were going to be out of work, but he found a way to make it feasible and financially viable for it to stay in America and for people to stay employed.

Hearing that story was heartwarming. To me, it’s what American values are all about. It’s about the pioneer spirit and the sense of building something on your own and making it happen. In America, if you work hard enough, you can have what you want. I know America isn’t a perfect country, I know it has its problems, but I still believe in the American dream. I went to America for ten years and it worked for me. I’ve been blessed. I think that does exist to a greater or lesser degree.

PC: Michael is a character that you could easily write off as unlikable, but you do a brilliant job in the film where audiences are invested in his journey and growth from the get-go. How are you able to bring the different layers of Michael to life? Was it a challenge to find that balance?
William: That’s a lovely question. What I focused on was tapping into a part of myself that is very strong, is very determined, is very resilient—I made that the cornerstones of Michael’s personality. His moral compass can be pushed. That energy can be pushed into an incredible place, but if the moral compass is completely off, it can be pushed into a very negative place.

It’s when he meets Charlie, Johanna Braddy’s character, that he finds that love inside of him. He finds his heart, determination, resilience, and fortitude. All of that has been the cornerstone of his corporate life, and now it’s become the cornerstone of saving his dad’s company.

I love that. Funny enough, I have a friend—I’m actually in his flat—he’s going to take on his dad’s business. His dad sells farming equipment, and my friend has always been like, “I don’t know if I want to take it on. It’s a huge responsibility. I don’t know if I want to do it. I want to create my own path.”

I know that my friend’s the right person. He’s a mechanical engineer. He worked at Siemens, which is a wind turbine for renewable energy. I imagine what it’d be like being him, and the pressure that’s on his shoulders all the time, and what it means to have his dad passing the mantle to him. I’m very close to him; he’s actually my best friend. I thought about him as well for this character.

PC: Great answer. You’ve done it all throughout your career. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
William: What excites me about independent filmmaking is that I’m a bit hyperactive. I’ve got, as you probably could have guessed, a lot of energy! [laughs] Independent filmmaking requires a serious amount of energy. It requires you to be serious because you don’t have time. You don’t have a lot of takes. You don’t have the resources. You have the location for maybe four hours. You have to make the scene work. I love that pressure. I love that energy. I love that we’re in it together. We’re going to make it happen. We’re going to push through.

It comes down to your preparation; you have to be very well prepared. You have to work at home a lot, but I love the fast pace of it. I love that independent films are still made and that they’re talkies. I loved them growing up. There are a lot of ’70s movies that are fantastic, indie vibes where you think of what Dennis Hopper started out doing with Easy Rider—how that was going to be the cornerstone of independent filmmaking as we know it. I want to keep making films like that. There’s a very important place for them in our society.

PC: You touched upon this a little bit already, but there are so many incredibly relevant themes within the film. Was there one in particular that hit home for you?
William: Thank you for that question. For me, the one that really hit home was how people are able to change. I believe that people can change for the better. I believe that in the core of my being. All of us have been on a path in our lives where we’ve gone, “Wait a minute, this doesn’t feel right. I’ve got to change here, or I don’t like the person that I’m becoming. I don’t like this environment or where my energy is going.” When you have the ability to change, it’s a very brave thing to do.

I have a friend who just had a baby, and she’s a type-A person. She was starting a massive franchise. She went to Oxford. She basically could be running England. She could do it with her eyes closed, but she just had a baby. She was like, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” She had to make a change; she had to become a more malleable person. I love that we can grow as people and that we can develop. That’s very important.

PC: With the film out now, what do you hope audiences take away after they see it? Has that changed given everything that we’ve faced as a society in the past two years?
William: That’s a very good question—it’s an important question. We’ve faced incredible difficulties over the last two years. We haven’t been able to see one another. We haven’t been able to be close to our friends and family. Everyone’s been working from home.

This is an uplifting film. This is a film about hope. This is a film about triumph over a difficult situation. This is a film about the best parts of the human spirit. Although we’ve all been through pain, we’ve also seen incredible miracles by people.

Nobody really appreciated a nurse before, but now we think of a nurse as a warrior, a hero. Nobody appreciated a doctor in ICU, but we see them completely differently now. The most successful, richest man in the world still has to go into the hospital and still has to be there like, “Please help me. I need you guys. I’m at your mercy.” That shows humility. That shows that we’re all humans. This film is about finding your humility; it’s about finding your own sense of self.

PC: For you as an artist, what was the biggest lesson you learned being a part of this project that you’ll apply to future projects?
William: I was a bit nervous about doing a perfect American accent for the entire movie! I knew I had to be on it for the American accent. I’m really proud that I did make a convincing American accent.

That was a bit of a hill for me to climb. I stayed in it the whole time. I was with my brother. We were in California together, where we shot. My brother was surfing during the day, having a great time. Then, I was shooting. At night, I couldn’t go out and be in my American accent with him. I went back to English. Then on set, I’d go back into American, but I wanted it to be good. I wanted to say that I could deliver dialogue. I could do scenes. I could make something that I’m proud of in an American accent in an American story about the American dream.

It was important to me that it worked. I had a very supportive crew and cast. Everybody was very understanding of me. I’m so grateful to them. I hope that people believe me. I hope they take away something from the film that’s meaningful to them.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
William: I did love The Queen’s Gambit. I thought that was really good. Anya Taylor‑Joy did an amazing job. She’s a brilliant actress.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
William: I like to watch a random action movie—I love action movies. I’ll watch anything with Jason Statham, and I think I’ve seen every movie that Liam Neeson has done. Also, Chris Pratt. If they’ve got action, I’ll always watch it.

PC: Favorite book?
William: I just read Andre Agassi’s autobiography, which I loved. It was epic. I felt that it was a very honest portrayal of what it’s like to be a top-level athlete.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
William: My favorite play is Othello. I love it. I loved it when I was young—I got to study it two years in a row. It’s very topical today. It was written hundreds of years ago, but it seems to be incredibly poignant where we are right now. It’s about a White man who brings down a Black man who’s done incredible things with his life and destroys him.

It’s disgusting beyond all reckoning. It’s a very powerful story, especially with Black Lives Matter and the fight for equality right now. We’re fighting for people to have their say, to tell their stories. Women filmmakers have to be pushed to the forefront. Everything has to change. I want to see that change. I want to be part of that positive change myself. It’s very important to me.

PC: Well said! What about a band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
William: I listen to drum and bass. People might find that really weird. There’s a track that I’ve been listening to called “Solar System” by Sub Focus. I love it.

PC: Dream role?
William: I don’t know what my dream role is. I’d love the James Bond films. I wouldn’t turn James Bond down, but at the same time, I love big romantic films as well.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
William: Wow. What a great question. There’s a little boy that’s like me when I was younger. He’s in Winnie the Pooh with Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie. Or William Poulter. He’s a friend of mine.

To keep up with William, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Saving Paradise wherever you stream movies.