Jeremy Irvine admits he still find dating 'as difficult as ever' despite star status

The War Horse star, who used to date Ellie Goulding, finds romance tricky 
Struggle: Jeremy Irvine admits he still finds dating difficult
Dave Benett
The Weekender

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Romantics lost in an age of Tinder and Happn may yearn for the age of courtship immortalised by Jane Austen.

But War Horse actor Jeremy Irvine, 27, who is acting in a new audiobook of Northanger Abbey, is certain the Regency dating scene was not for him.

“The world of Tinder and things, that is how we date now,” he said. “It must have been a nightmare [in Austen’s day]. I do not envy them at all. Living in a world where you are so suffocated by the social etiquette and rules.

"You are expected to go to a dance with this person that you have been set up with, pretty much, and be with her parents.

“You don’t get to spend much time alone with them and you are expected to marry them and hope that works out. I can never understand when people say, ‘Oh it would be lovely back then.’ I totally disagree.”

Asked if he was any good at dating, Irvine, who once went out with the singer Ellie Goulding, said: “Definitely not. I find it as difficult as I always did.”

The actor features in the audiobook with Emma Thompson, Eleanor Tomlinson, Douglas Booth, Lily Cole and Ella Purnell, star of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.

He plays Henry Tilney and said: “It has been nice to delve into that world. You get lost in it.”

The Audible audiobook’s release on July 18 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Austen, whose other works included Pride And Prejudice and Persuasion.

The bonus of recording it, Irvine said, was “you don’t have to care what you look like — you can come in in your pyjamas”.

The actor, whose movies include The Fallen, Stonewall and Now Is Good, said he had been working on theatre projects and found films harder.

“Film acting, to me — I know a lot of actors will turn in their grave — but you are coming to set with no rehearsal.

"You’re meeting the actress you are supposed to be having a sex scene with in the afternoon — someone you’ve only known for 15 minutes and you are supposed to be in love with her for 15 years. I’d say film acting is a lot more difficult.

“With theatre you can indulge in that creative process. With film, if it doesn’t work then tough shit. You might have had an off day. You might have had the flu.

"They’re not going to put subtitles on the bottom of that scene saying, ‘Jeremy had the flu.’”

Northanger Abbey is available to pre-order now at audible.co.uk

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