[Read our review of “Rocketman,” a critic’s pick.]

“What Richard has as an actor is great weight and assuredness,” said Taron Egerton, who plays Elton John in the film. “People call it sex appeal — and hell, there’s no doubt he has that — but it’s more than that. The sex appeal is a byproduct of his strength. You feel safe around him, because he has this certainty about things.”

Ask Madden about that certainty, though, and he seems startled that anyone would think he possesses it. “You have to summon the strength to try and fake it,” he said. The character of John Reid may seem like a shark, but Madden conceived him as a big bluffer working hard to conceal his nerves, “because that echoed me on set, trying to be the cool character but actually panicking underneath.”

Madden has felt that sense of precariousness since he was a child actor growing up outside Glasgow, where classmates teased him relentlessly for leaving school to pursue roles. Even when Madden got his big break on “Game of Thrones,” it came with a catch: Many of his co-stars were recast after the pilot was shot, an early reminder that “you’ve got to bring your best to this show, because it’s going to go on with or without you.”

Eventually, the show did just that, though not before bestowing Madden with a level of fame that surprised him. “I thought it would just be like a niche, cult show,” Madden said. “I didn’t think it was going to be, like” — he paused to think of something appropriately huge — “‘Game of Thrones,’” he said finally.