He was an unruly teenager in 90s Los Angeles, who became feted for his turns as Freddie Mercury and a Bond villain. Now he’s turning to Greek tragedy on the London stage

Rami Malek, in one graceful sweep, lifts the food delivery bags from an assistant and holds open the door of the photographic studio. He showers the room with greetings, asking names, responding to questions: he’s doing good, thanks; his Thanksgiving was good, thanks, his partner (actor Emma Corrin) threw a surprise dinner for him, trimmings and all, and he was blown away. He shakes hands with the crew, jokes about the music, apologises for being late. His fault, he maintains. But there’s something else. In all these small interactions, Malek is quick to flip focus on to the other person: no, but how are they? How is their Sunday? I wonder as I watch him, is this real? Is this who he is? I’d read that he liked the way Tom Hanks is attentive to all those he works with. That Malek learned this in 2010 while working on The Pacific, the second world war miniseries Hanks co-produced.

Earlier, when we met in a cafe in east London, he revealed as he dropped his leather holdall and shed his jacket that he had done almost as much reading on me as I had on him. “I hope that’s OK. I mean, you investigated me,” he said. This was unnerving. First, because actors don’t care about interviewers, yet here he was giving feedback on my work, and, second, because it must have been so dull. Unlike Malek, 43, I have not starred in any Emmy-winning TV series, like Mr Robot (2015-19). Or received an Oscar for my portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), or played the supervillain who killed Daniel Craig’s James Bond in No Time to Die (2021). In the first four months of this year alone, he will star as Oedipus at London’s Old Vic theatre and in the blockbuster thriller The Amateur, which he also co-produced.