Max Irons: ‘Cancel culture is a problem’

• Maybe it runs in the family… Max Irons may not be quite as outspoken as his famous father – he’s the son of Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack – but over the course of a 45-minute video call, he happily gets stuck into Harvey Weinstein, Philip Green and Boris Johnson, privileged British politicians in general, cancel culture and American shows that have an unquestioning attitude towards US government policy.The latter is relevant because Irons is reprising his role as on-the-run CIA data analyst Joe Turner for the second series of Sky’s thriller series Condor. It’s a taut thriller where staying alive is not to be counted on. For someone who looks like James Bond, though, Irons isn’t as comfortable around guns as you might think. “I instantly started sweating and shaking,” the 34-year-old tells me when I ask about the weapon training he went through before shooting. “Every inch of wall space was covered with high calibre machine guns. I was handed an M16 by this guy whose neck was thicker than my torso. I was a complete mystery to him. He looked embarrassed for me.”