David Jonsson is beaming with pride as he sits down to talk to The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s late August and the in-demand British actor has come to a local school in rural England to counsel the next generation of film creatives. He’s teamed up with BAFTA and EE for a new initiative, Set the Stage, where 16 teens have been selected to form a crew and produce a short film under the mentorship of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jonsson, 2025’s recipient of BAFTA’s EE Rising Star Award.
“I’m relatively quite shy,” the Rye Lane and Alien: Romulus star says to THR. “I feel like I don’t really have anything of use to say most of the time. But it’s just not true. And I think Set the Stage and their initiative with BAFTA and EE, it’s just so pivotal in getting the opportunities that I got as a kid that really helped me go: ‘Oh man, I can do this.’”
It’s this experience that made it a no-brainer when Jonsson was asked to get involved with Set the Stage. The hand-picked group of 17-year-olds are on site attending a seven-day immersive programme where they were joined by Jonson and Twisters actress Edgar‑Jones. The actors led Q&As and on‑set workshops with the aim of igniting confidence, creativity and collaboration before the teenagers took to set themselves to produce their project Setting Sail.
The movie explores the theme “growing up as a teenager in Britain today” and follows the main character, Hannah, and her younger self, Peanut, on a nostalgic treasure hunt that rekindles memories of her late grandfather. Featuring a cast that includes House of Dragons actress, Carol Ball, Setting Sail will premiere in early 2026 and be made available to watch on EE’s YouTube channel.
David Jonsson talks with young filmmakers about the craft and wider industry for BAFTA and EE’s ‘Set the Stage’.
EE/BAFTA
“I think staying playful is everything,” continues Jonsson, who also leads the forthcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk. “It helps you to just continue to understand what you really enjoy. Life is short, art is long. With art, you want to continue to find what feels right to you, because the truth is you make a handful of them that really, really matter. If you’re too rigid, you’re limiting that.” His biggest advice for the kids: “Remain playful and be passionate. Find craft.”
His mission with Set the Stage is about “actively finding” opportunities for new voices in the film industry. “I’m a working class lad. I got excluded from school several times and I found my way into film in a way that feels like I shouldn’t have,” says Jonsson, “which is partially why I feel grateful to be in these rooms and doing what I’m doing. We can’t expect them to make it to the table, because odds are there’s not enough seats.”
It was advice from his mother, he continues, that motivates his work with aspiring creatives. “There’s something about being vivacious in your belief and holding to it. My mum always used to say, ‘Don’t wait to be told. Go and do it.’ So from both sides, if we can find some form of synergy there, the industry will be way better for it. And I’m all for that. I think Set the Stage is doing that.”
His newly-founded production outfit with producing partner Sophia Gibber, greyarea, is about finding emerging talent and encouraging them to push the boundaries. “We just produced a play up in Edinburgh — [greyarea] is a film company but we had a story that I wrote that felt like it could work on a stage, and I wanted to workshop it and try it and play with it,” he explains. “It doesn’t matter really what discipline you’re in, I think storytelling is storytelling. You can be an actor one day, and then you can be the perfect producer. That’s what making movies is. You mustn’t ever get too set in your ways.”
Daisy Edgar-Jones for EE and BAFTA’s ‘Set the Stage’ initiative.
EE/BAFTA
London-born Jonsson still can’t quite believe he’s a BAFTA Award winner, let alone asked to usher in the next batch of filmmakers. “I grew up watching the BAFTAs,” he says. “My parents [and I would] sit down on Sunday night and we’d get Chinese and watch these glamorous people in dresses [at the BAFTAs]. It’s partially because my dad loved film and partially because my mum just wanted to watch glamorous people be glamorous,” he recalls.
“For me, it was escapism. It was everything that I saw and loved in movies, watching these actors be celebrated for doing what they love… I don’t think there’s any better job. To be where I am now, winning the Rising Star Award — which is really all about the people — and BAFTA championing me in that way, I am humbled.”