[image]
[title]It’s all happening at warp speed for Louis Partridge. One minute he’s at school, doing his A-levels and generally being a teenager; the next, he’s sitting in the alabaster surroundings of a fancy Venice hotel, a movie star with nine million Instagram followers.
If you’re nitpicking, Partridge is (mainly) a TV star right now. He broke through as Enola Holmes’s charming, foppish Tewkesbury, opposite Millie Bobby Brown, before scoring a role in Danny Boyle’s Pistol as the Sex Pistols’ snarling bassist Sid Vicious. I’m meeting him at the Venice Film Festival, where he’s promoting Alfonso Cuarón’s slippery new sexual psychodrama Disclaimer, a seven-part Apple TV+ series that comes with A-list talent sloshing over the sides – Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen included. Set partly in the ’90s and partly in the present day, he plays Jonathan, a photo-snapping teen backpacker who has a torrid affair with an older woman in Italy before meeting a sticky end. Or so, at least, it seems.
Last night was the show’s world premiere, and Partridge walked the red carpet with his girlfriend, American pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo (38 million Instagram followers). He’s not showing any signs of morning-after haziness, his Prada clobber a reminder that he’s also now the face of the Italian uber-label. Cuarón and Blanchett wander past, exchanging greetings with the 21-year-old Londoner.
As a 12-year-old, Partridge made a list of filmmakers he wanted to work with, and it seems to have had magical properties. So who else does he want to manifest?
Warning: contains light Disclaimer plot spoilers
Have you woken up to loads of messages from back home?
(Laughs) No, but it was wonderful. I was trying to practise gratitude on the red carpet, supporting a show that I'm really proud of.
You watched the premiere with all of these glamorous people and the series opens with your character having sex. Was that awkward?
Yes, in a state of undress. I think I'm getting better at watching myself, but it wasn't the easiest. It's somewhat empowering, but still a shock. And there's a lot of it.
Did Alfonso Cuarón want you to dig into your own life experiences?
Actually, we had our first character conversation after we started filming. I'd interpreted him differently [from how Alfonso wanted] and he was like: 'Okay, that's not quite what I had in mind.’ So we hopped on the phone and tried to nail it down. I enjoyed taking 'me' out of it and bringing his vision to life.
The only scene we had was when I was a dead body in the morgue
It’s an amazing cast but you don't share screen time with too many of them. Did you get to meet Lesley Manville and Kevin Kline?
The only scene we had was when I was a dead body in the morgue. That was the hardest to film because I couldn't keep my fucking eyes shut. I was lying there, thinking: all you have to do is don't breathe and don't open your eyes. I found it so tough.
Is it true you went backpacking partly as prep for Disclaimer?
I love exploring and I had some time off. And during this shoot I had time off and I went to Thailand on my own as well, bumming about in the same shorts I wear in the show and with a camera – it was kind of meta.
So it was a gap year of sorts?
I left school and went straight into working – so I never got that year to spend travelling. I had a few months off and thought: why not?
You must be one of the few people who's done a film studies A-level while having already starred in films.
Yeah, I wasn't quite watching my film in film studies class but the look on my teacher's face when I told him I was working with Alfonso was pretty remarkable. We'd studied storyboards from Gravity and a couple of months later, I was working with him.
A Netflix hit like Enola Holmes is an overnight kind of breakthrough. What was that like to experience?
I remember being in a region in Brazil in the fucking Amazon, having dinner with my mates and being spotted by a girl. She ran off and 20 minutes later she seemed to bring every girl she could find. There were 40 of them banging on the window. I don't get hassled too much in the street in London – I might take one photo a day – but that was quite a 'wow' moment. The owner of the hostel I was staying in worked out who I was and obviously spread the word. I looked out the window and there was a queue of people. I locked myself in my room for two days. It’s amazing the reach these things have, but I hated that.
I was in remote part of Brazil and there were 40 girls banging on the window
Can you still use the Tube at home?
Oh yeah, I can do all of that.
Did you have a notion that Enola Holmes would be so huge?
It was the biggest thing that I'd done, so in my mind it was already huge – the biggest set I'd been on, these amazing names. 'Fucking hell, I'm in a film with Henry Cavill, Millie Bobby Brown and – wow! – Helena Bonham Carter.' But looking back I've realised that it doesn't really work like that.
And are you coming back for a third film?
I love the team, so I'm there if they want me.
The films have some magnificent Victorian phrases. Have you ever had to explain what a 'nincompoop' is to Americans?
(Laughs) We have a few of them: 'swashbuckle', 'codswallop', 'lollygag'. I don't know where these words come from.
I read that your first acting role was as Maid Marian in a school play.
You've done your research! I was at an all-boys school and I remember being one of the only boys who was like: ‘Fuck yeah, I'm wearing a wig!’ I remember sitting on stage going: 'He loves me, he loves me not' in a wig and getting laughs and it was a crazy feeling. I joke about it, but looking back I think it probably was the start of something. Year 4!
How was the wig?
Matted!
What was it like being on the stage of the National Theatre as a teenager?
I’d just done the school play and someone told me they were doing open auditions to cast 150 kids. So I went with my mum and when I walked in there were all these stage-coached kids doing vocal warm-ups and I burst into tears and sat on the street crying. Then the casting lady sat down with me for about 10 minutes and persuaded me to come in and [have a go]. I still remember her name: Marianne Dicker. I got a part as an extra and I got to run out for a few seconds every night in front of all these people. Once I got past that barrier, the buzz was electric.
Are you ambitious to return to the National Theatre in a more dialogue-heavy role?
I would love to do stage. It's something I've been thinking about a lot. I think it’d bring me to a similar state of anxiety but you've gotta do it.
You’re a south Londoner...
Clapham (laughs)
Is there a part of south London that inspires you?
I love Barnes Common – there's a lovely cycle route there from my house. I love Hampstead Heath. If I'm looking for the nitty-gritty, I like Soho. There's an energy and history to it. You can imagine the lamps and the foggy, smoggy streets. But I like getting away from things and going for walks. The quiet places.
Do you have a most memorable London gig?
I haven't been to too many gigs. All the people I like to listen to are long dead. I love the blues and I need to find some contemporary blues artists. I went to see a friend, Jacob Slater, who I worked with on Pistol, when his band Wunderhorse supported Fontaines DC at Hammersmith Apollo. Danny Boyle cast him as the Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. The first gig I went to? Rihanna at Wembley.
You were just papped reading a biography of British folk legend Nick Drake. So… are you playing him in a movie?
Funny you should ask because I have pitched it to a director. I think that story is brilliant, such a sad life, and I love his music. But the estate isn’t interested. They don't want to lend the music. I don't know, I feel like all's not lost. He died when he was 26 so there's still a bit of time.
Can you play his songs on the guitar?
He was actually the guy who got me interested [in learning the guitar]. Then I tried to play some of his tune and fucking hell, it's a lot... you're not going from C to F to G, it's almost like a wash of sound.
Pasta is not sustainable when you're trying to get that Henry Cavill physique
Who wouldn’t want to see the person who played Sid Vicious playing Nick Drake?
I’d love that. I'd love another music gig. We played live in front of an audience on Pistol and it was surreal. It was way better than acting (laughs).
What movie says London to you the most?
Paddington 2. Because I've been in it for a second and half. My character’s nickname was ‘J-Dog’ and my one line of dialogue was: 'J-Dog, spud bounce'. I took my sister to the premiere at the Leicester Square Odeon – huge for me – but my other scene was cut. I was like: 'Just you wait, it’s coming...' But nothing.
Do you have a go-to restaurant?
There's a little place in Barnes called Mari Deli where you can sit outside by the river and it doesn't feel like you're in London. Mario, who runs it, makes a fuss of you and his mum works in the kitchen and makes gorgeous parmigiana. And I really rate Bocca Di Lupo in Soho: good prices, really interesting regional Italian food. Pasta is a treat, though not really sustainable when you're trying to get that Henry Cavill physique.
In an interview in 2020, you said you wanted to work with Noah Baumbach – and it’s just happened. Want to manifest any other directors?
Did I? That's amazing. When I was 12, I made a list of directors whose films I liked in case I got asked about it in an interview. Paul Thomas Anderson was in there, maybe Ken Loach and the Coen brothers. I’d take any of those!
Disclaimer streams on Apple TV+ from October 11.
Catch a free screening of Disclaimer at the London Film Festival this month.