Juno Temple's Punk-Rock Life: Cigarettes, Sleepless Nights and The Clash

Juno Temple calls me from the backseat of a car somewhere between Encino and the Hollywood Hills after a long day on set. She’s being driven because, despite living in Los Angeles, Temple, 37, still can’t drive. It’s one of several aspects of “reality” that Temple readily admits she hasn’t gotten the hang of. She doesn’t have a regular sleep schedule, she’s frequently late, struggles with anxiety, and can lose track of time sticking rhinestones onto cigarette boxes.

“I feel like I’m making myself sound like an absolute chaotic human,” Temple says about halfway through her conversation with Vanity Fair. Chaotic? Not quite. To borrow from the German language, she’s a bit of lebenskünstler—someone who approaches life with an artist’s creativity and style. She color-codes her scripts with sparkly tabs, spends sleepless nights watching horror movies, hunts the internet for vintage clothing, and has become slightly obsessed with monogramming things.

Temple is now back as Keeley Jones in season four of Ted Lasso, the role that transformed her life and career. The latest chapter of the show focuses on women’s soccer, introducing a new group of characters while reuniting much of the original cast.

In the newest season of Ted Lasso, Temple's character is helping to get a professional women's soccer team off the ground.Apple TV

And Vanity Fair has unexpectedly found its way into Keeley’s life too. In Wednesday’s new episode, the magazine becomes part of a running gag after Temple’s character lands a Vanity Fair profile with the headline “Keeley Jones: Woman on Top.” The bit culminates with a real working-class lad recognizing her from the piece, only to offer his assessment that the magazine was better when Graydon Carter was in charge. Get off our backs, Ted Lasso writing staff!

Below, Temple talks with Vanity Fair about returning to Ted Lasso, her punk rock upbringing, her friendship with Hannah Waddingham, and her relationship with cigarettes. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Vanity Fair: You met your husband while he was your driver during season two of Ted Lasso, right?

Juno Temple: I did. Yeah.

So between meeting your husband, meeting one of your best friends in Hannah Waddingham and becoming much more famous, is it fair to say Ted Lasso changed your life?

Yes, no brainer. Also, I think it’s changed my life from what it’s done for my brain. Jason [Sudeikis] came from Saturday Night Live and that’s very much a part of how he works with Ted Lasso. Last minute changes, things can be one way and then become something different.

And then I think the doors that have opened for me personally with the other female characters that have come into my life since—they’re just absolutely extraordinary. And I know that Ted has been the gateway to a lot of what’s happening in my life right now. I think it’s a show that kind of changed everyone’s life that was on it, actually.

When season three ended, did you think you were saying goodbye to Keeley forever?

I thought it was done at the time. I really got that sense from Jason too. I felt like that chapter was signed, sealed, delivered and that the book had been closed.

I didn’t want to push Jason about it. I didn’t ever want it to feel like it was coming back because it was a hit, and the idea of that feels like it goes against the show entirely.

And the fact that it’s coming back with a new trajectory—it’s the same people, it’s the same heart to it—but that it’s exploring a different selection of lives and a different version of football and the challenges that come along with women’s football was something that felt not just like timely in a good way, but actually like really good for the show.

I’ve always thought you had incredible comedic timing, but you’ve said you don’t necessarily think of yourself that way. Do you still feel like you don’t have a command of your comedic timing?

I still don’t. But I also think that there’s an element of freedom in that for me. Like, if I’m trying to wrap my head around comic timing I feel like I’ll fuck everything up. And I love that Jason knows that about me because it means that he doesn’t sort of speak that language with me. I initially genuinely did think he’d texted the wrong actress about the part.

I do think that there is also an element of him hiring me because I’m not a stand-up comedian or an actual comedic actress. I think I’m quite feral, actually. And I think that I’ve learned a lot in doing Ted Lasso about comedy, but I still feel like I’m an observer taking in the information. And if I’m honest, most of the time I’m funny because I’m not entirely sure it’s a joke.

There's been three times throughout the entire shooting of Ted Lasso, so that's all seasons now, where Jason has come in and said, "Just so you know, you just nailed some comic timing.” And then I'm like, "Why would you tell me that? It will never happen again.”

Temple told VF that her character Keeley Jones wears the stuff “I don't have the balls to wear in real life.”Apple TV

There’s also something very specific about Keeley’s relationships with other women.

I’m a girl’s girl through and through. I fucking believe in being a hype woman for all the women that you encounter in your life, whether they’re your best friend or whether they’re somebody that you’re meeting for the first time, and that you might never see again. I think it’s important that we are able to tell each other great things about each other, but also tell each other things that may not be easy to hear, and just navigate being supportive of each other.

There’s a running bit in episode three of the latest season about Vanity Fair. Do you read the magazine?

Yes and no. I don’t read a lot of magazines. I don’t really have time at the moment. But I’ve always thought of Vanity Fair being something that was kind of extraordinary, showcasing people and places and politics and vacations and an array of different things in a way that felt quite elegant and profound, but also, felt quite grown up and also a bit sassy, and I think Keeley would agree with me with that. Like it was a big deal for her to have a magazine shoot in Vanity Fair.

I don’t know if you guys still do it, but the Vanities section?

Yeah, Vanities.

I remember I did that 100 years ago, and it was a moment of like, “I’m really in fucking Vanity Fair. Wow.” So I think the magazine has that kind of sparkle about it. It has that air about it where you’re like, “Fuck, this is a big deal.”

You’ve talked about having trouble with “reality,” and by that you mean things like being on-time and driving. Are you trying to get better at that stuff?

Yeah, of course I am. Time matters, and people’s time is really important. I’m very good at getting in my own way. I think a lot of people can, and it definitely can spin me into a tizzy when I need to get out of the house or get some sleep.

I can get kind of wayward and go down wormholes. But I definitely have a lot of anxiety and get panicked.

I wanted to ask about your childhood because it sounds like you grew up in a pretty incredible punk-rock household. Your father directed the Sex Pistols film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and Joe Strummer from The Clash was around a lot, right?

Joe was a big part of my childhood. He was my youngest brother’s godfather and my parents’ best friend. I remember him in my life a lot, and I actually remember the moment when I was in my local town and sort of saying to my mom, so, was Joe like in quite a big band? Because a lot of people were wearing Clash t-shirts, and you don’t necessarily pay attention to that kind of shit when it’s something that’s a part of your everyday life.

What kind of music was constantly playing at home?

Music-wise—we would listen to the Kinks. So I would literally say the sound of the Kinks is part of my DNA, and they were constantly being played by my dad. And then definitely the Clash. There’s also a lot of Rolling Stones.

Your dad was deeply embedded in London during the original punk explosion. Do you ever talk to him about what that moment felt like?

I recently did a thing with him and Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols in London, and just talked to them about being a part of this moment in time, which was punk rock for the first time. You didn’t have to be good at your instrument, you didn’t have to be able to hold a tune. You just had to feel shit.

I was sitting there, and I had this feeling of both my gut and my heart, and being like, “What a profound thing to have gone through that moment in time together.”

And now you’re still in each other’s lives, and you still really love each other, and you can talk about that moment and reflect on it from the perspective that you guys experienced it in.

It was such a fucking amazing moment.

There’s almost a parallel there with Ted Lasso. You’re part of this massive cultural phenomenon, but maybe it doesn’t feel that way when you’re inside it.

I’m not aware of it like that. I’m not a social media person. I suck at that shit, and like I’m not aware of it from the iPhone perspective.

I just am aware of it when I’m walking around places and somebody may want to chat with me and talk to me about Keeley and the impact that she’s had on them.

Also, the friendship that me and Hannah have got to put out there on the telly as well is something that I think I’ll probably hold on to. That is one of the things I will be the most proud of in my whole career.

You’ve said that you pick out a different pair of “knickers” for each role. Did you do that for the movie you’re filming now?

Yes, I did. Yeah. They’re a kind of a not so elegant sateen, hot pink bikini brief vibe.

Last thing: How’s the nicotine habit these days?

I am literally about to step off for a cigarette right now. But again, I would happily say this to anyone that I meet: Don’t fucking start smoking, right? Because it is addictive and it’s expensive. So if you don’t have to, don’t do it. I have no interest in letting it go, but it’s not a chic habit anymore. But it’s a vice that I enjoy, and I am definitely not quitting today.