(CNN) Timothée Chalamet with a bowl cut doing Shakespeare is quite the departure from his other roles.
The "Call Me By Your Name" actor, who also starred in "Beautiful Boy" and "Lady Bird," is now playing a version of 15th-century ruler King Henry V in "The King."
The Oscar nominee says his latest project is the very reason he became an actor.
"You want to become an actor [so you] can wield a sword, ride horses, and play an English king," Chalamet told Vanity Fair. "It sounds absurd to say out loud. Even so that was exhilarating."
In the film, he also has an English accent and a distinct haircut. Chalamet's co-star and the film's co-writer, Joel Edgerton, joked about the style.
"We put a breakfast bowl on his head and just went for it," Edgerton told USA Today.
Chalamet was told to cut his long wavy locks to play the young Henry V, who took the throne at age 26.
Playing the title role in "The King," a story based on William Shakespeare plays about the 15th-century English monarch, was definitely intimidating for the actor, he says.
"It seems so weird to reference William Shakespeare," Chalamet told Vanity Fair. "But it was interesting seeing how his plays lined up with history...whether it was Henry being more loose with his drinking, or maybe he had his eye on the throne more than in the play and in our movie."
He continued: "I tried to wrap my head around that. As an actor, there's the game of physicality and dialogue and understanding the scope of the story or the tone. But then there's also trying to find that internal life and knowing that it wouldn't be the same as what it would've been today or even 50 years ago."
Sean Harris, Ben Mendelsohn, Robert Pattinson and Lily-Rose Depp also star in the film from director David Michod.
"The King" is in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, expanding nationwide throughout October. It will stream on Netflix Nov. 1.