Like most Australian actors in Hollywood, you can trace Joel Edgerton’s career back to a soap opera. In this case, it’s The Secret Life of Us,, which led to his breakout film role as “Uncle” Owen Lars in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, as well as the 2022 TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi. (It definitely helped that Edgerton has an uncanny resemblance to Phil Brown, who played Luke Skywalker’s step-uncle in the original 1977 Star Wars film.
And, once you’ve done Star Wars, Hollywood beckons. Edgerton appeared with James Gandolfini and Chris Pratt in Zero Dark Thirty, the dramatisation of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. He was in historical adventure King Arthur with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley and romantic drama The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. He also went back to Australia for astonishing crime drama Animal Kingdom – the film which also brought Ben Mendelsohn and Jackie Weaver to international attention.
Awards action has followed too: an Aacta (Australian Bafta) for best lead actor in The Secret Life of Us, and best supporting for Animal Kingdom and The King. And he was nominated for best actor at the Golden Globes for 2016 biographical romantic drama Loving.
Now Edgerton is back in Master Gardener, the latest from American Gigolo and First Reformed director Paul Schrader. Here we find Edgerton as a meticulous horticulturist who works for wealthy dowager Sigourney Weaver and unlocks dark secrets from a buried violent past that threatens them all. Oooh, scary. And, to that end, Edgerton is on hand to take your questions – post them here by 1pm this Tuesday 9 May and we’ll print his answers this 12 May so you can think of him when you go and watch Master Gardener at the cinema later this month. Don’t forget the popcorn.
• Master Gardener is released on 26 May in UK cinemas.
