“A lot of the time it’s like jazz and you’re trying to find the rhythm”: David Jonsson and Tom Blyth on Wasteman

One of the finest British debuts of recent years is finally coming to UK cinemas, having premiered in Toronto and the BFI London Film Festival. Wasteman is an achingly tense and gritty prison drama-turned-thriller, in which inmate Taylor (David Jonsson) finds himself caught between rivalling forces just as he becomes eligible for parole. Tom Blyth plays his volatile cellmate Dee, whose arrival disrupts the existing gang’s contraband operations and drug deals. Within its confined and claustrophobic spaces, Cal McMau’s first feature offers a veritable masterclass in acting from its two young leads.

The Upcoming spoke to Jonsson and Blyth over Zoom about David’s journey with this film – having auditioned for it seven years ago until finally boarding it again as a producer –, as well as the unblinking and Oasis-bottle hoarding habits of Tom’s character. Since there are some striking similarities between Wasteman and the upcoming Animol (winner of the FIRPRESCI prize at the Berlinale Perspectives section), we also couldn’t help but ask whether David Jonsson had spoken to his The Long Walk comrade Tut Nyuot about their mutual experience.

Selina Sondermann

Wasteman is released nationwide on 20^th February 2026.

Watch the trailer for Wasteman here: