Gosh, I was skinny. Will Kempe was watching himself in the 1990 movie, ‘Metropolitan’. He was 25 and the Oscar-nominated film was his “big break”.

“I was one of the last people in the door,” the Bermudian actor said. “I arrived late. I’ve heard that people lined up around the block for hours to audition, but I didn’t.

“I had been in New York for three years and had done a couple of plays and films.

“All the auditions I’ve done tend to morph into one, but I remember the casting was on Lafayette Street in New York.

“Three of the main characters were among the first 50 people in the door, so maybe there is something to being at the beginning or the end.”

He was cast as baddy Rick Sloneker in the film, which follows a group of Manhattan debutantes.

Until he got a call telling him about last week’s cast reunion in New York, the 51-year-old thought the movie was dead and buried.

“I’m thrilled to see attention brought to it again,” he said. “There’s been quite a lot of buzz about the re-release of the movie at Lincoln Centre. The cast reunion received a full spread in the September ‘Vanity Fair’ and this month’s ‘New Yorker’.”

On watching the film again, he was struck by his youthfulness — and lack of experience.

“I loved how skinny I was but you see all the bad habits that were ironed out over 20 years,” he said.

“For example, I looked down a lot, which meant I wasn’t very confident.

“I also moved around a lot. Since then, I have learnt to be very still and grounded, especially in film and television.

“Younger actors tend to be anxious, so they move around a lot and that is disconcerting.”

He was surprised that the Lincoln Centre screenings were packed.

“It’s a cult classic, but not everybody there was revisiting it,” he said.

“I did a Q & A and the moderator asked the crowd how many had seen it before. The answer was about half. I think it is still as relevant today as it was in 1990. It is about a sense of belonging.

“It explored the interesting idea of being a younger person morally opposed to something without trying it. There was also a theme of being downwardly mobile, which is germane today. It was a really well-written movie.”

He said the re-release and reunion was a “nostalgic ride” for him.

“It was lovely to get together with people who have been on this ride,” he said. “After the show everyone was friendly. You do a movie and think you will be best friends forever, but after two weeks you don’t hear from anyone again.”

The ‘Vanity Fair’ shoot was done at the Players Club in Gramercy Park.

“There was no expense spared,” he said. “Then we all went out and had dinner and drinks.”

Mr Kempe took a hiatus from acting a few years ago to raise a family with his wife, Julia. He has two stepchildren, Hannah, 19, and Josh, 17, and a seven-year-old daughter.

“My daughter, Billie-Rose, saw the film with me,” he said. “She thought the humour was too grown-up for her. These days, I am mainly in Bermuda, selling real estate. I tried to commute back and forth, but I had to decide between family and career.”

Mr Kempe said it was a difficult decision, but worth it.

“Hopefully, at some point, I will be able to get back in the acting game on a professional level,” he said. “Life takes you in different ways.”

Wonderful opportunities came after ‘Metropolitan’.

“Being on ‘LA Doctors’ was pretty great,” he said. “That was a soap opera, seven years after ‘Metropolitan’. It ran for two seasons between 1998 and 1999.

“I don’t think ‘Metropolitan’ led to that, but it had some bearing.

“The great thing about it is it opened up a lot of doors to people of significant influence and bearing on my career. That is unmistakable.”

• The September issue of ‘Vanity Fair’ featuring Will Kempe is out now.