Josh O'Connor gets honest about working with Kelly Reichardt in 'The Mastermind'

Josh O’Connor has shared his experience of working with the director of The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt.

During the film’s Cannes press conference on Saturday, May 24, the 35-year-old British actor talked about working under the direction of Reichardt, quipping, “there’s a kindness, which you don’t often get.”

O’Connor opened up by saying, “I don’t know that I was necessarily aware of it at the time but there is something in working with Kelly. There’s a kindness to working with Kelly which you don’t often get. I find that really informs a performance.”

Earlier at the event, The Crown star admitted that he had been “a big follower of Kelly’s films” and was attracted to his character in The Mastermind because of his “ordinary” nature even prior to signing it.

He quipped, “When we go to the theater we see oftentimes the most extreme versions of characters and human nature, and that’s what we know as drama. I find that now I often want to see ordinary people put in kind of extraordinary positions.”

For the unversed, in The Mastermind, which is set in the 1970s, Josh O’Connor is playing the role of an art thief opposite Alana Haim, who is playing his wife.

It is pertinent to mention that The Mastermind, a heist crime film, was released on May 23, 2025.