Archie Madekwe has reflected on starring in mega-hit movie Saltburn, opposite Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan, after his nomination for the prestigious EE Bafta Rising Star Award 2026.
Describing it as ‘a very particular experience’, he told Metro: ‘It was very strange, but also amazing and really special to be a part of a film that has that much of a cultural impact and really well deserved for Emerald [Fennell, the writer-director].
‘She’s so specific about her filmmaking, she’s such a genius.’
Although the 30-year-old actor admitted that ‘no one can really prepare you for the physical feeling of going TikTok viral’, he had a hunch it would do well.
‘I think we always knew we were a part of something special because of the way that Emerald spoke about it, and because of the writing, and because of the feeling that she created on set. It felt special from the first time we stepped in for the read-through.
‘So we kind of took it in our stride. It was an amazing roller coaster, very alien and a very new thing. But, you know, it’s all a celebration of the film.’
Madekwe, who received the nomination alongside Robert Aramayo (I Swear), Miles Caton (Sinners), Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Posy Sterling (Lollipop), also shared that he hadn’t seen Fennell’s hotly anticipated next film, Wuthering Heights, at that time.
‘But me and Emerald texted about it yesterday. I’m gonna see it very soon!’
He later turned up at the UK premiere to support the movie’s release, which divided critics and fans but enjoyed a very juicy $88.5million (£65.7m) opening.
No can prepare you for the physical feeling of going TikTok viral
Commenting on the furore its casting and sexy, period-inaccurate trailer whipped up, Madekwe urged fans to be ‘open’ to Fennell’s vision.
‘I think that especially with any kind of literature that feels close to people, they feel very protective, but remember that this is also an artist that is giving you an adaptation through her eyes so just take that in [your] stride and be open – and I’m so excited to see what she did.’
What time is the Bafta Film Awards 2026 on TV?
The 2026 Baftas take place at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday February 22, and will be broadcast on BBC One that evening from 7pm.
The ceremony will be hosted by actor and presenter Alan Cumming.
Madekwe’s Rising Star nomination was down to his work on the film Lurker, which he also produced, but he already had a connection to the buzzy award thanks to a recent co-star.
Kingsley Ben-Adir, a 2021 nominee, will play his estranged brother in an upcoming movie, The Arrival, which charts their complex relationship into adulthood.
‘That film is actually screening today for the first time, so we will be talking about [the award]. It feels particularly special because so many people that I look up to, want to work with, have worked with, have been nominated for this, so to be included in that list is very surreal.’
EE BAFTA Rising Star Award nominees 2026
- Robert Aramayo (I Swear)
- Miles Caton (Sinners)
- Chase Infinite (One Battle After Another)
- Archie Madekwe (Lurker)
- Posy Sterling (Lollipop)
The winner will be announced on Sunday February 22 at the EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony.
For Madekwe’s fellow nominee, Posy Sterling, her nomination came off the back of her role as a single mum who loses custody of her kids after coming out of prison in Lollipop.
She had said onstage at the nominations announcement that she would have given up acting if she hadn’t landed the role.
Later, she added to Metro: ‘I’ll be honest with you, that was how I was feeling and in fact, Lucy Pardee, the casting director, wrote a letter in support of my Screen Star of Tomorrow Award and she said in that, “I’m so pleased you didn’t give up on the industry” because she’d been aware of me and I’d done some wonderful theatre work.
‘But it felt like, if it’s not going to be this [role] – and I feel so passionately about it, and I know that I can do it and I know how much of a huge responsibility it is to play this part – it may have been that I stepped away’.
Alongside pursuing acting, she has also worked as a carer in a home, which she ‘loved’, as well as keeping herself busy by setting up a school too.
But Lollipop has added a new avenue for her to channel her energy into through campaigning for social care and maternal imprisonment reform.
As she explained: ‘When you learn about what is actually going on, you can’t ignore it.
‘I certainly care too much, and so I will keep talking about it. It was an honour for me to be on the panel with such incredible experts in the field who are dedicating their entire lives to this work in different sectors.
‘I just got to open my mouth, and start talking and then I get to be part of that conversation.’
For the future, though, she’s open to a whole range of acting work, be that starring in a biopic, a comedy or a sci-fi film. ‘And I love vampires to be honest,’ she laughs, a timely wish given the success of Sinners last year.
‘When we were younger, my sister played with Barbie but I was interested in watching vampires!’.
The 2026 Bafta Film Awards air tonight on BBC One at 7pm.
This article was first published on January 14, 2026.
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