He was a teen actor touted as a future male lead until on-set conflicts derailed him. Now Pettyfer is back with his directorial debut – but has he grown up?

A week ago, Alex Pettyfer had all four wisdom teeth out. It is only after a sometimes fractious interview (over the phone, after he cancelled a face-to-face meeting) that it strikes me as an appropriate note on which to open. Questions of the wisdom that comes with age crop up more than once for the actor, who was widely reported to be a “bad boy” at his breakout moment early in the 2010s and is now four months shy of 30.