'Challengers' Star Explains Why He Was Recently Living in a Van
British actor Josh O'Connor has already made waves by starring as young Charles III in seasons 3 and 4 of the Netflix drama series The Crown. But the 33-year-old is about to see his career explode when he appears in the upcoming tennis comedy-drama Challengers, opposite Zendaya and actor Mike Faist.
Bookended around the filming of Challengers, which hits theaters on April 26, 2024, O'Connor spent time in the Italian countryside filming the romantic period drama La chimera, which premiered at Cannes this year to critical acclaim. In what may perhaps be his last shot at anonymity, O'Connor spent the second half of his time shooting that film living in a refurbished yellow DHL delivery van which he named Winnie.
In a new GQ interview that took place back in June, before the SAG-AFTRA actor's strike, O'Connor explained that he had been looking for a van similar to a 1960s VW camper van his parents used to own. After Challengers wrapped, he said that it seemed like the perfect time to finally buy one before heading back to Italy to finish La Chimera. That van would go on to be his "refuge," or "a place that he could climb into when the weirdness of being an actor made the world feel like it wasn’t real."
"I got the van to get out of London and be away from all of it," he told the publication.
O'Connor's tiny home featured fairy lights strung above a dining table, among "a neat stack of gardening manuals and cookbooks." The tiny kitchen contained a spice rack with oregano, chili, and cumin, as well as a plant, and two needlepoint canvases sewed by his mother of a medieval woman and man.
However, van life also took a toll, and by the time O’Connor got back to London last fall he said he was ready to park it for awhile.
Among other challenges, such as preparing meals in a van, living off the grid meant showering with a solar shower, which is basically just a plastic bag full of water that you leave out in the sun and then hook to a tree to bathe. At some point, he realized that the van was fine for vacation, but that it wasn't really feasible for everyday life. "Also, I stank," he quipped.
In addition to Challengers and La Chimera, O'Connor will appear in the upcoming British biographical drama Lee, starring Kate Winslet as warn journalist Lee Miller, alongside Alexander Skarsgård and Marion Cotillard. Lee is set to premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 9, 2023.