‘I felt like a trespasser and imposter’: Louis Theroux to be awarded prestigious NFTS fellowship
Louis Theroux will be honoured with the prestigious National Film and Television School (NFTS) fellowship next month.
The renowned interviewer – who has been working in the business for over three decades, and whose Weird Weekends were the stuff of legend – admits he initially felt like “a trespasser” and “imposter” in his front-of-screen role.
Theroux with students at the National Film and Television School. Pic: NFTS
Never going to film school himself, the now world-famous presenter and documentarian got his first job as a print journalist in America after graduating from Oxford University.
His big break came on Michael Moore’s TV Nation series, as a roving reporter delving into offbeat culture, later striking up a deal with the BBC resulting in Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends.
A first-person storyteller, who disarms his subjects with charm, Theroux’s interviews frequently result in the unexpected.
Commenting on his upcoming award, Theroux said: “I came into the industry more than thirty years ago, feeling like a trespasser, an imposter, in a role meant for someone else, worrying that I would be found out, hoping I could keep going for a few more months, since I was enjoying it so much.
“All these years later, I’ve learned that ‘keeping going’ may be the best definition of success.”
Admitting that like those just starting out in the field, he too is “still figuring things out”, he said he hoped the fellowship would give him the chance to “connect with younger people… sharing the few things I’ve learned, and more importantly learning from them”.
Theroux at the Church of Scientology building in LA. Pic: BBC/BBCWorldwide
Theroux went on to interview a host of celebrities in When Louis Met…, including Jimmy Savile, who is now known to have been one of the UK’s most prolific sexual predators.
Haunted by the interaction, Theroux would go on to interview some of Savile’s victims in a follow-up 16 years later.
Theroux has also fronted various documentaries across BBC1 and BBC2 and released the 2016 feature-length documentary My Scientology Movie.
The author of several books, he currently hosts his own podcast series.
Theroux and his wife Nancy Strang in 2019. Pic: PA
In 2019, he set up his own production company, Mindhouse, with his wife Nancy Strang and filmmaker Arron Fellows, producing documentary film and TV series, as well as his podcast.
Theroux recently revealed he was suffering from alopecia, initially resulting in the loss of his eyebrows.
In true Theroux style, the 54-year-old has been documenting his hair loss journey on social media, seeking advice and sharing updates with his followers.
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NFTS chair Sophie Turner Laing praised Theroux’s “immense contribution” to the world of factual filmmaking, adding: “His ability to connect with audiences and uncover powerful human stories makes him a true icon in the industry.”
Previous recipients of the honorary fellowship include James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, Wallace And Gromit creator Nick Park, director Sam Mendes and children’s author Malorie Blackman.
NFTS graduates have gone on to win 15 Oscars and 166 BAFTAs since the school opened half a century ago, with current graduates’ work on show at the BFI Southbank from Monday 3 March to Thursday 6 March.
The fellowship will be awarded to Theroux during the school’s graduation ceremony on Friday 7 March.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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