Corey Mylchreest Talks Jamie’s Journey in ‘My Oxford Year’

[This story contains spoilers for Netflix’s My Oxford Year.]

When portraying King George in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Corey Mylchreest left audiences in love and heartbroken after his character’s emotional arc. Now the actor is set to once again make the audience swoon and possibly cry in Netflix’s My Oxford Year.

In the film, directed by Iain Morris and based on Julia Wheelan’s 2018 novel of the same name, Mylchreest stars as Jamie, an Oxford professor who falls in love with American student Anna (played by Sofia Carson). What begins as a fun fling evolves as the two grow a strong bond built on poetry and literature, before profoundly altering each other’s lives and subverting each other’s expectations. However, Jamie reveals that he has been secretly battling cancer, the same illness that he lost his brother from, and has made the decision to no longer continue treatment much to his father’s protests.

The choice was one that was complicated for Mylchreest. “I don’t know what I would do. I really tried to meditate on that for a very long time, but it takes you to quite a dark place. It’s so complicated, but I support him in his decision,” the actor tells The Hollywood Reporter.

“If you’ve watched your brother want to let their life end, and undergoes this treatment that really just prolongs and worsens the pain, I think if you’ve seen that for long enough… think you’re one step further to accepting your fate than you would be if you hadn’t,” he adds.

In Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Mylchreest’s King George was depicted with a mental illness. Though the series never explicitly stated a diagnosis, it was referred to as “madness.” Now having portrayed another character struggling with an illness Mylchreest reflects, “No one is their illness. It’s not a characteristic, it’s a circumstance.” Of portraying two roles in which his characters endure illnesses Mylchreest says, “We know that it isn’t who they are and you just have to do the same work that you would do anywhere else, which is just figure out who your man is and then do as much research as possible about the illness or whatever there is… Just do as much research as possible about what it is, and then try and work out how the person that you are beginning to know and understand, how they would react to that.”

In a conversation with THR, Mylchreest reflects on filming at Oxford, Jamie’s complicated relationship with his father, that Coldplay karaoke scene and what he envisions could’ve been for his character.

What was it about this story that interested you and made you want to be a part of bringing it to life?

I guess it’s the character of Jamie. He’s so multifaceted. He’s so three-dimensional. [There are] lots of conflicting things within him, lots of amazing relationships in that film [including] with his parents, with his brother, with the wonderful Anna, yeah, there was just so much to do. And it’s such a lovely story as well. Obviously working with Sofia [Carson] was a big pull, as was working with Iain.

How familiar were you already with Oxford?

I know bits of Oxford, and I’ve been up and down before to there. It’s such a gorgeous city. It’s full of history, and the architecture is really lovely and it’s really beautiful. It’s this really lovely dichotomy between the fact that all of these buildings are so old and they’ve been there for so long, but they’ve always been for young people. There’s always been this vibrant, youthful energy and purpose to Oxford that is contained within these ancient buildings which is so, so lovely. It was so lovely to film it there as well, because it feels like a big part of the film is the city itself and also the college. It was such a great thing that we got to do it there. We filmed a lot at Magdalen college and on the streets of Oxford.

Anna and Jamie form a connection through their love of literature and poetry. Can you talk about poetry and literature being this foundation for them and how it helped them see each other in a way that others wouldn’t?

I guess in Jamie and Anna, you have two characters who are sort of restricted from their truth, dreams, desires and emotions through things around them. Jamie’s family are very old English and England has a culture of suppression of whatever you’re truly feeling. But Jamie is so full of feeling and love and everything under the sun and obviously loves poetry to pieces. But it is through his poetry that he’s able to further understand himself and the world and express himself as well. The amount of times that he quotes something to get his point across, because it’s almost safer in a way to use someone else’s words, but also, when the words are so eloquent and fully encapsulating, why would you choose your own? And the same goes for Anna. Poetry is something that has been so dear to her from such a young age. She is on track to a very different life that has been almost planned for her, and it is poetry that connects her to herself, her own dreams [and] her own feelings in a much deeper way. And so you have these two characters that have their own very important and vital to their existence and experience of the world, their relationship to poetry. As with many things, when you share such a devout appreciation of something, when you find someone else who has the same thing, is a very powerful connecting, catalyst type thing.

With Jamie and Anna’s dynamic, Jamie wants things between them to be kept fun given the secret he’s keeping but it seems like it took somebody like Anna to challenge Jamie into thinking that maybe there is a person who could understand who he really is and the challenges he’s living through. And also maybe vice versa with how Jamie helps Anna. Can you talk about the progression of their relationship?

What they begin with is a common love and also they are attracted to each other. But also we are deeper understanders of our experience than we are conscious of and I think that both of them are aware of how much the other has what they need, or [that] the other could help them bring out in themselves what they need and, of course, that is what happens. I also think that in a way, the film is a love letter to cross-Atlantic relations, because there is British-isms that Anna takes on but I think specifically, Jamie is in need of a very American outward. Anna is very much “just do it and say it” whereas Jamie isn’t that. If Anna was exactly who she was, but British, they would have broken up because they wouldn’t have fought for it. There is also their cultural differences that play into the evolution of their relationship.

 One notable fun scene in the film was the karaoke scene. Did you have a say in the song that Jamie would sing or were you just up for anything and ready to see how it went?

I was up for anything, but it [the song] was decided beforehand. We actually filmed two versions of that. We filmed it with “Yellow” and we also filmed it with “Careless Whisper” because we didn’t know what we would get the rights to. We also filmed two versions of each one with him [the character Jamie] sort of genuinely trying in the beginning [and] trying to do it sort of sincerely, then failing, then going to joke. And then we also did one where he’s taken out the whole thing from the beginning. That scene is a very painful one for me to watch. There was a cast and crew screening that I went to yesterday, and I had a hat on, and I pulled my hat down, my T-shirt up, and I literally blocked out my ears. I just can’t do it.

Did you feel there were other takes that were better then the one in the film?

I understand why they chosen that. Because also at that point Jamie — not that there is an upper hand — but has had the upper hand over Anna. He splashed her. I mean, she did get him back in the chip shop but then he also has a whole lecture [and] there is a bit of a power dynamic. I think it was important that in that moment, she gets the upper hand on him, and he doesn’t take charge of it. He’s in the palm of her hand in that moment. And so I see why they’ve done it. But God it was so bad. It was also awful doing it.

When we finally learn of Jamie’s secret, he shares his reasoning for not wanting to continue treatment for his cancer. He’s very set on his choice and doesn’t stray from his decision even after finding love with Anna. Can you talk about his decision and unwillingness to waver? Did you agree with it?

It’s so complex, isn’t it? It really is, and there’s so many things at play, I think. I mean, I don’t know. I haven’t experienced the closeness of the loss that Jamie had. His brother obviously had the exact same thing and there are some lines that reference it, but in my head it’s always good to come up with a backstory and have a detailed imagined reality of what that is. If you’ve watched your brother want to let their life end, and undergoes this treatment that really just prolongs and worsens the pain, I think if you’ve seen that for long enough, and there’s degradation of their body, the emotional pain, the physical pain that they’ve gone through, I think you’re one step further to accepting your fate than you would be if you hadn’t. And also Cecilia (played by Poppy Gilbert) was (Jamie’s brother) Eddie’s partner and he’s seen the loss and the effects with Cecilia. For all of his cynicism, he is a deeply caring man, and it’s very little agency that a situation like that gives you, and one of the things that you are able to control is what you leave, the effect on people that you have during those last months. I think he’s so dead set on he’s not going to leave the world having had a worse impact, having caused pain. For someone who is so optimistic and wonderful, and also for himself, he just doesn’t want to go through the awfulness of what he’s witnessed. I do agree. I don’t know what I would do. I really tried to meditate on that for a very long time, but it takes you to quite a dark place. It’s so complicated, but I support him in his decision.

Speaking of complicated, we learn about Jamie’s strained relationship with his father. His father wants him to keep fighting but Jamie is ready to let nature takes its course and no longer continue treatment. And when you learn their perspectives, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive right or wrong perspective because we know why they feel the way they feel. How did you interpret their dynamic? Can you talk about the progression of their relationship?

I mean, you’re so right. They are both right and ultimately, it’s so funny, isn’t it, because although it will be one person that is suffering or that is diagnosed, it is everyone within their vicinity that is suffering and affected. And in a way, one person is suffering if they are the one that’s been diagnosed, [but] at least has an end date, whereas you don’t get that if you are a loved one. It’s just so complicated and I think one of the things that is best about the film is it really asks that question, and it doesn’t try to answer it. It just tries to give as much of both sides as possible, which I think is wonderful. I’m very proud of the film. We have a story of quintessential British boys who just don’t talk and need toys often. That’s football. I think one of the amazing things about football is that it connects and allows an outlet of hopefully positive emotion that otherwise wouldn’t be expressed, because of so much toxic masculinity, effectively. And also [in] the British culture, everyone is suppressed. For them it’s toy cars. It’s a wonderful dynamic and, and we do see it evolve. At the end, they do thankfully reach an understanding and they just need to remember that they love each other, really. And that’s the cause for everything.

At the end of the film, we don’t necessarily see Jamie pass away but rather get a snapshot of what could’ve been with him and Anna traveling. What did you make of the ending? Had Jamie not been sick, what did you envision for what could’ve been for him and for him and Anna?

[I] love the ending. I think by the time that we started the shoot, that still wasn’t planned. I think they put that in, and I think it’s a wonderful idea, and I think they’ve done it very well. And also, what a pleasure to do that. We just went to all these gorgeous places. So that was an absolute joy. And it was right at the end of the shoot as well, so that the last day we were in Athens.

I think if he hadn’t had his illness, then I think without a doubt he would have stayed at Oxford. He would have become a professor and a lecturer, and very happily done that for a very long time. There’s no way that he would have left. And I see the same for Anna. I think they could have had a very happy life there. And hopefully Anna still will.

What do you ultimately hope that people take away from this film and what did you take away from it and this character?

What a question. I mean, I took away so many things. I think that’s one of the joys of doing this ridiculous job. You’re being paid to research and develop a really in-depth understanding of what other people are like, and why they are the way that they are, and there’s so many things that I’m grateful for about playing Jamie. I think the main thing that I’ve taken away is the thing that I want everyone to take away, which is that life is so much more nourishing. It’s shorter than we think. Not that I’m saying that as a wise old man, it just is and it is best enjoyed in the now. I think the balance in between Anna’s philosophy on life and Jamie’s philosophy on life is the perfect thing, but planning is something that Matthew McConaughey says, which is “conservative early and liberal late” which is just like, do your planning and then you can be free. Do your work, and then you can relax. I think Anna really plans, and Jamie is very much just go with it. I think somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot, and as long as you’re present, then you’re okay.

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My Oxford Year is streaming now on Netflix.