While at SXSW for the premiere of his latest film, Tetris, star Taron Egerton spoke with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about the fascinating and unbelievable origins of one of the world’s most popular video games. Egerton is best known for his breakout role as Eggsy in the Kingsman franchise and his performance as Grammy and Academy Award-winner Elton John in Rocketman, which earned the actor a Golden Globe. According to Egerton, these previous roles actually played a part in his decision to star in director Jon S. Baird’s condensed version of how Tetris took the world by storm.

In the movie, which is now streaming on Apple TV+, Egerton portrays Henk Rogers, the real-life video game designer and salesperson who made it his mission to retrieve the rights to Tetris from the Soviet Union. The script, penned by Noah Pink, is a concise retelling of the actual events that took place, and “...in terms of the machinations of these separate factions trying to win rights in a very volatile place at a time of particular political unrest, it's all true,” save the epic car chase. The movie also stars Toby Jones as Robert Stein, Nikita Efremov as Tetris game designer Alexey Pajitnov, Roger Allam as Robert Maxwell, and more.

During their conversation, Egerton shares how much he knew about the true story behind the game’s skyrocket to popularity, what appealed to him most about the role, which hairy situation was the most difficult aspect of the job, and what it was like to film in Aberdeen, Scotland. He also discusses upcoming projects like the dystopian LGBTQ+ novel, HappyHead, which he’s serving as a creative producer for, a “sister piece” to the miniseries Black Bird, and whether we’ll be seeing more of Eggsy in the Kingsman franchise. You can check out all of this and more in the video above, or read the full transcript below.

COLLIDER: I'm going to say congrats on this movie, I've seen it twice.

TARON EGERTON: Well, thank you, man. It's always very, very nice to see you, mate.

Yeah, you know, you're okay as an actor. I'll put up with you, you can continue. Make another movie, or two.

EGERTON: I'm gonna take that as a compliment.

Yeah, I might watch. So, I know you're a fan of football, so I'm curious, are you watching AFC Wrexham?

EGERTON: No, I'm not a fan of football, especially. I'm aware of what's happening with AFC Wrexham because it's big news in Wales. And, I mean, to say I know Ryan Reynolds would be a stretch, but we've met and we follow each other on Instagram, and it's an amazing, cool thing.

Whilst I'm not much of a fan of football, I am a real fan of Ted Lasso though. And obviously, all those episodes have just dropped, which is what I'm going to be spending my weekend doing.

I've seen the first two episodes, they're what we call kind of good. I think that show, it's gonna be okay.

EGERTON: Good, good. That's good to hear. It really has its hooks in me, that show.

Yeah, the second episode is tremendous. But anyway, enough about Ted Lasso. Last time we spoke I asked you if you were planning on directing, and you said there was something you were thinking about. It's been like a year, I think, give or take, so any other plans on directing?

EGERTON: No. Since we last spoke, I did secure an option on a book–

Oh, HappyHead, I'm very familiar.

EGERTON: Yes, I won't be directing HappyHead, but I do intend to be a very hands-on creative producer. And I think that feels like a healthy step towards the creative nucleus of sort of storytelling, if that's not a horrendously pretentious turn of phrase. And I hope that the lessons I begin learning through more active grounds-up producing will equip me for an eventual step into directing. But, I'm not enough of a grown-up yet, but the time will come, and I think I'll know when it's right because it will feel like a story that I have to tell.

You know, maybe I would start by, perhaps, directing a short. That's something that I thought about. I have a loose idea for something. And also, it has occurred to me that perhaps directing– I don't know, I shouldn't even say that, actually. That's something I should keep to myself because I'm oversharing. But yeah, I'd still love to do it.

I was going to say you could also start with an episode of television. That has a format that you can sort of–

EGERTON: That's what I was about to say, yeah.

Yeah, I figured you were going in that direction. When we last spoke, it was for Black Bird, which you know I was a huge fan of. Paul [Walter Hauser] won some awards and the show was very successful. What was like having something that people really, really enjoyed?

EGERTON: Yeah, it's amazing. To be involved with anything that people are that effusively praising about is an extraordinary feeling. Paul, for my part, [I] was always fairly certain that was going to happen because I had front-row seats to that performance, and it's an extraordinary one, and I'm fiercely proud of him. And I just feel very secure in a job well done, and there's no better feeling than a job well done.

And Dennis Lehane, who is the creator of that show and somebody that I have loved working with, has been very kind in that he has offered me the lead in his next project, as well, which is something we will be embarking on later in the year. And whilst I can't say anything about it because it's – well, least of all because it's in the process of being created – it's a completely different role for me, and a very fresh challenge, and I think in some respects, I think it could feel like a kind of sister piece to Black Bird, which is cool. So I'm very excited about that too.

It's been an amazing journey, Black Bird, and it goes on, you know? Paul and I were recently celebrating the show at the SAG Awards where we were both nominated, and it's just amazing when something takes on a life that sustains that long. Yeah, it's really, really great. People have really seemed to have enjoyed it.

Matthew Vaughn has literally changed your life and has been a part of a lot of roles for you. What do you actually get him as a gift like at Christmas?

EGERTON: Well, I try and not be bad in the films he puts me in, is the main thing. The thing about Matthew, as well, I don’t know if you know this, Matthew is a phenomenally wealthy man [laughs]. So he's one of those people you can't really buy gifts for, but he was 50 last year, and I didn't know what to get him, and I got him a framed set still from about nine years ago, in fact. It was the scene in the first Kingsman where I am strapped to the track in one of the Kingsman test exercises, and he is stood over me in a parka directing me, but he's directing me in quite an emphatic way. So it kind of looks like he's villainously lording it over me as I'm tied to a train track. So I got him that for his 50th.

I think when you try and buy a gift for somebody who has everything, the best thing to do is try and tap into some sort of sense of sentiment, I think. So that's what I did.

I know Matthew, and I also know he likes whiskey, and the problem is–

EGERTON: I ain't buying a bottle of whiskey that Matthew is going to enjoy. I do fine, but I ain't spending that…

[Laughs] Jumping into Tetris, this is such an effing crazy story, and I think that even if you read Wikipedia, you won't think this is true, but it all is. For people that don't realize, this is a wild, crazy true story. I know it's so generic, but how much did you know, and how much were you surprised it was actually real?

EGERTON: Well yeah, I mean, I didn't know any of it. And that was the thing that I was most concerned with when Matthew first sent me the script was, I wanted to know what was fact and what was fiction, and approximately 40% more of it was fact than I thought it would be.

The biggest embellishment is probably the last scene of the movie where there is a kind of quite high-octane chase. But in terms of the machinations of these separate factions trying to win rights in a very volatile place at a time of particular political unrest, it's all true. Even down to the fact that Henk [Rogers], Robert Stein, and Maxwell, the younger Evan Maxwell, all turned up a log on the same day, is true So, yeah, I mean, if you were to put a crude percentage on it, I think 85, 95% of it it's true.

Yeah, Jon was saying – and I spoke to Alexey and Henk, and they basically said that the movie feels like it's happening much faster.

EGERTON: Yeah, it's more condensed, right.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying say. It happened over a longer period of time, but it's all – except for the car chase – it's basically true.

EGERTON: Yeah, and I believe even the culmination of that very significant event of the falling of the Berlin Wall, you know, is all fairly true as well, I think. So, yeah, exactly that. For purposes of a three-act story, things are more condensed together, but the bare bones of it is all fact.

I know you get offered a bunch of scripts. What was it about this project that said, “Oh, I want to do this.”?

EGERTON: Well, I’d just done Rocketman and I was signed on to do Black Bird, and I think I felt that Henk, the role of Henk on the page, was a nice counter piece. That is my selfish motive for wanting to do it, but I just loved the story. I found it utterly compelling, and I couldn't believe it was true. And also, I knew Jon’s work, and I obviously know Matthew's work, and I knew that their vision for it was going to have a sense of fun and kineticism that would appeal to that kind of gamer, nostalgic audience.

You know, it was divided up into chapters that were sort of crude representations of the process of engaging in a game. So, Start, Pick Your Player, all that stuff, and I just thought it felt hoppy and fresh and fun, and would find a really solid audience, and so, I hope that's what happens.

You get to wear that mustache in the movie. When you wore that, did you leave set at all wearing that? Did you get to be anonymous, or people still knew who you were?

EGERTON: I mean, I was insistent on doing that because I don't grow a very strong mustache, so I had to wear a fake one, but… When I did Eddie the Eagle, I wore one for a few scenes, and it got to the point, even though it was probably only about three weeks of wearing it, that I would arrive on set in a perfectly chipper, happy mood, put on that mustache, and instantly become an unpleasant person to be around because it's fucking awful. It really is awful.

Toby Jones said to me on set, he said, “I can't believe you're doing that. I've done it myself. It's the worst thing in the world,” and it's– I mean, look, First World problems, but it's just very uncomfortable and itchy, and there's just something about having something in the front-middle of your face that really puts you in a bad mood.

So, I can't believe that in the years between Eddie the Eagle and Tetris, which was probably about five or six years in terms of production dates, that I forgot how uncomfortable it is and deigned to wear one for an entire shoot. You know, I cannot forget the discomfort ever again because it was pretty horrendous, but it's a strong look, and it's how Henk looked and I wanted to create his look, and, you know, I had to have a little bit of help above and beyond what nature gave me, you know?

I'm glad you wore it because it does, it makes you look the character, you know? And what's funny is, you say all this now, but down the road, someone's going to offer you a role where you have to wear facial hair again, and you're going to say, “Yeah, I'll do that.”

EGERTON: The thing is, it's sort of fine all around here, under here [gestures to face], but it's just there, it's quite weak. But unfortunately, sometimes that's the bit you need and that was the case with Henk, you know?

Completely. I found it was so interesting that you filmed this movie in Scotland in, I believe, Aberdeen, which had the architecture for Russia. I don't think they've made movies in these places. So, what was it like filming where people are not used to watching a movie like this?

EGERTON: Well, Aberdeen, I think is somewhere that– I mean, I don't know what's been filmed there in the past, but it certainly didn't feel like it was a common occurrence, and people were very excited we were there. Jon, the director, was also from Aberdeen, so that added a certain sort of sense of fun to the proceedings.

To be honest, you know, this was at the end of 2020, I'd been sat in my apartment between the months of March and August, September, so it was just very, very exhilarating and exciting to be back making a movie. And yeah, it was great being in Scotland. It's a terrific, terrific place with amazing people, and even in the midst of the COVID lockdown, I just had an incredible time in both Glasgow and Aberdeen, just wandering around and getting familiar with those towns.

Matthew told me that he is hard at work on a number of things, but Kingsman is a part of it. Have you spoken to him about another one?

EGERTON: Yeah, I mean, I don't know what I should say really.

Be careful with what you say, but tell me what you can.

EGERTON: Yeah, I mean, I have an idea for Kingsman. I have my own idea that I would like to pitch to Matthew, and I think that will be happening soon but he has the wheels in motion on a big idea of his own. So who knows, you know? Who knows where it will land? But he has every intention of making it, and I have every intention of playing Eggsy one more time. That was always what I thought I was committed to doing. It's the role that made my name, so I suppose, in a way, I just want it to be absolutely right if we do it again, and I want the story to do justice to the part that really changed my life. I want it to be a fitting ending.

And I would, obviously, really hope that Colin [Firth] would come back for at least a part of it, and who knows? We'll have to see, but we are planning to talk about it, actually, the next time we see one another, so who knows? Watch this space. But, you know, he's certainly not backing off the idea.

Tetris is now streaming on Apple TV+.