“He loves me. He loves me not.” A 10-year-old Louis Partridge delivering these lines as a gender-swapped Maid Marian first catalyzed a nascent fascination with performance, “throwing petals at the audience, getting some laughs, and just loving it.” Even before taking to the stage for Robin Hood, he recalls playing dress up for friends and family, and the feeling it incited: “I used to try on these ridiculous white leather boots that a friend’s mum had. I used to love trying them on for the laughs that it would get—purely that.” 

In the decade since, the now 22-year-old actor has become well-known for Enola Holmes, the miniseries Disclaimer, his portrayal of Sid Vicious in Pistol, and Netflix’s soon-to-be-released House of Guinness. For an emerging actor, the proliferation of social media has turned fame into more of a behemoth than ever before, as each moment can draw millions more eyes than the previous. Partridge became familiar with this dynamic at the ripe old age of 17, when his pivotal role as Tewkesbury in Enola Holmes effectively plugged his name into the algorithms of millions of fans globally. Perhaps there would be no one better to speak to about this dynamic than someone who has experienced it themself. Thus, VMAN invited Kit Connor—the heartthrob of Heartstopper and one of the stars of Warfare—to chat with Partridge for a candid conversation ahead of the reveal of Partridge’s next starring role.

LOUIS PARTRIDGE: Let’s dive into it. First of all, how are you doing, Kit? Whereabouts are you in the world?

KIT CONNOR: I’m in South London. And I’m guessing you’re still doing Enola?

LP: I am. Enola Holmes 3—the very same. I’m in Malta, which is lovely. Currently, I’ve got a view of the sea. I’ve been here for about two, three weeks now. I’ve got two more to go. It’s just been extended. The Wi-Fi is struggling. I had to try everything to get this happening. But I’m on my phone, and it’s working.

KC: It’s like living in the 20th century?

LP: Yeah, nomad lifestyle. You just started Heartstopper, right? 

KC: Yeah, literally week one. So I was doing rugby training today, hence all the mud and lovely stuff—my favorite thing to do.

LP: If it isn’t rugby training, it’s SEAL training. That’s just amazing.

KC: Always some kind of throwing myself on the ground. We shot quite a steamy scene yesterday. So again, throwing myself on the ground in a different way. [Laughs] I’ll start with one of the first questions [VMAN] gave. Do you remember how we met? I know that this is quite a funny one, because the two of us have different answers as to how we remember meeting. I remember, Venice Film Festival, it was at a party, and I saw you walking in. I thought, ‘That’s Louis Partridge, that’s the heartthrob of the century, the guy that everyone is deeply in love with.’ And then you come up and go, ‘Kit, how you doing, man?’ And I was, ‘I don’t think we’ve met. Nice to meet you.’ And then you quite quickly instructed me, or informed me, that we had met a long time before. So would you enlighten us?

LP: Yeah, which we had. So it was a case of ‘Nice to meet you / Nice to see you.’ I’d say I must have been 13, and I went to audition at a school trying to get a drama scholarship. And I went into the waiting room, jittery, nervous, because I had to do a monologue that I had prepared. And they send their drama scholar, the resident scholar, to come and escort me to the room, and Kit Connor walks in. And I knew you from—at that point—I knew about you from Get Santa. Because there weren’t many kids at that age doing that sort of stuff. Up until then, I’d only been an extra, doing little things where I could get them, and you were quite the thing I remember, at least in my mind. And so I thought that was kind of serendipitous, that we then became friends. But you showed me around, took me into various rooms, and then showed me into my room and said, ‘Good luck’. Cut to Venice Film Festival a few years ago. It’s really something. But you must have seen a load of young kids that day.

KC: You know, that still haunts me—that interaction that we had in Venice. Because I was like, ‘Ah, shit. You know what? I think I do remember it.’ But it was just a job for me those days. [Louis laughs]

KC: A well-oiled machine getting people through. But here we are now, interviewing you for VMAN.

LP: I should say thank you for this, by the way, Kit. It’s really kind of you to do this. There’s no one I’d rather have.

KC: It’s nice to have a chat. Enola was obviously your massive breakout. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say overnight fame and exposure, and just kind of craziness. I was wondering how you—especially with some hindsight now, because it’s been a few years—how you remember it, or how it sits with you now?

LP: That’s a good question, and I’m sure we both have our own stories, because we are in a similar position in that it was quite fast. The nature of Netflix and Instagram is such that you’re connected to everywhere in the world, and everyone knows about you. It’s a great age to be living and doing our job, but there are certainly some downsides. I will say that it did sort of warp my perception of what is important for a little while. I feel like in any other profession, you work 10, 15, 20, however many years for a shot at that feeling of congratulations and renown. And so there was I, age 16, thinking, ‘Wow, I’ve completed it, essentially.’ Which is completely not the way to think about it, and that’s not the job at all. But it really gives you this sort of false bravado, and I’m glad that I have nice parents and a good group of people around me that didn’t sort of send me off in a weird direction, and that the work has always been the most important thing. You need to keep that stuff at arm’s length, because it can eat you up. I’m not trying to say that I would have done it any other way, but I’ve kind of stepped back from Instagram a little bit of late, just because it’s taken over my life in another way. But it’s a good thing to have, if you can manage it. Like a pit bull or something. Did you have a similar experience, Kit?

KC: I did. Heartstopper, the first season, came out in my last year of school. It was strange, the kind of place that I had known for a while suddenly felt a bit different and responded to me a little bit differently. It is a strange sensation. I do think I have a similar understanding of it to you. Like you get there and you think, ‘Whoa. This is what feels like you can call just a great success.’ You go into your next job, and the minute you spend another day on a set, you sort of go, ‘Oh, right, nothing’s changed.’

LP: Exactly. ‘I don’t know a thing’. I think for a while, it definitely gave me an overly acute awareness of people and my perception. And so I just found myself thinking a lot about what other people thought about me, because it was just apparent that I had 5 million people all of a sudden looking at what I was doing.  I guess you kind of develop a bit of a shell or an armor that feels comfortable. I don’t think that’s helpful for one’s self-expression and for one’s growth and discovery of identity. So I’ve tried to sort of filter out the noise and realize that it actually has no importance. It is quite a powerful thing when you’ve got an audience like that in your pocket that responds to some things and doesn’t respond to others. The natural thing is to want to play up and to want to keep chasing what feels like success, but ultimately ain’t.

KC: But in fairness, you have had quite a few good years. Obviously Enola and Pistols, Disclaimer premiering at Venice. These are kind of bucket list things for a lot of actors, and to be your age—and I say that as if you’re not older than me. But to be around our age and be able to kind of check those off the list is pretty awesome. I was wondering what some of those pinch-me moments have been, because if you’re anything like me, I find that every new thing feels like the biggest thing that’s ever going to happen.

LP: I absolutely love it, but I don’t go into it with that wide-eyed, ‘I can’t believe they’re letting me do this. They’re gonna find me out.’ 

I can’t remember why I was at the Venice Film Festival—I didn’t have any reason to be there—that time that we met. But that was quite a pinch-me moment. You end up hanging around these circles and brushing shoulders with people that you really look up to, and it all of a sudden seems like it’s kind of in reach. But Venice a second time around was very cool, walking on that carpet, getting on the boats, it really felt like something special. If only the contents of the show were a bit more savory. They showed episodes—this is Disclaimer—episode 1, 2, 3, 4. And there’s just sex scene after sex scene. I think Tim Cook, the head of Apple, was sitting behind me. I was just thinking, ‘Oh, God. This ain’t good.’ So that was actually a difficult watch. It was a pinch-me in a few ways, like wake me up out of this nightmare. But also, wow, this is really cool. I know what you mean about the first few jobs just feeling like the best thing to ever happen. I was lucky enough to work with directors that I just really, really respected. And you and I are similar. We didn’t have drama school, so to speak. We’re kind of learning on the job, and so I feel like the best way to do that is to work with someone who’s just the top of what they do. I think you and I have done a good job of going after that.

KC: Yeah, we’re trying.

LP: Knocking down doors.

KC: Another kind of bucket list thing, but you’re racking up a good list of directors, man. Alfonso Cuarón, Danny Boyle, Noah Baumbach, it’s a strong list of some of the greats, and then also some of the current rising stars as well. We’ve spoken a fair bit about what we want to do in our careers and where we want to get to, but are there any directors that you’ve been eyeing up that you’re kind of thinking, ‘Man, I could work with them’?

LP: I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Gus Van Sant the other day, which was just surreal, because I really respect him as a filmmaker, and just a creative. He came up filming skating in LA on this Super Eight camera, like a true man of the soil. After winning great renown with Good Will Hunting, he then went to recreate Psycho shot by shot for no other reason than he really wanted to see whether there was like, some magic between the actual outline of this shot, then this shot, then this shot. Just as a pure creative trial, running the full risk of a complete failure. And he works with small budget films. I just really respect that. He’s not young, but he’s still doing that, and has just left behind a really varied and interesting body of work. And I think as a creative, that’s what you’ve got to do, and you won’t hit it right every time, but it’s the trying that counts. But yeah, he’s on that wish list I have. I don’t know if you have a list on your phone, I have a notes app list of directors.

KC: Are any of the ones that you worked with on that list?

LP: You know what, yes. Noah Baumbach. That was really quite special. I’m only a small part in that film, but it was a very cool couple days filming. It was a brilliant old set up and to check that off is making 13-year-old me happy.

KC: That kind of brings it back to what we were saying about this idea of it’s always about the work. I think that sometimes—whether it be Instagram or the idea of notoriety, I think that can often lead particularly young actors in our position, to just be going and going and going and trying to get the lead in every film, when a lot of the greatest actors of all time have built their careers off of working with really great people and learning from them.

LP: Yeah, I think I struggle to name a film I’ve watched where Philip Seymour Hoffman has been the lead. Capote, that’s the only one I can think of.

KC: I’ve seen the first two episodes of Guinness. 

LP: [Groans] Oh, man. 

KC: Mate, honestly. I think it’s my favorite performance of yours.

LP: What did you make of the Irish accent?

KC: I thought it was great. And I’m normally a bit of a stickler for accents in general. I was waiting for you to slip up. Brilliant. It was brilliant. It really felt like a wealthy man from Dublin.

LP: Good. I was kind of going for the Andrew Scott thing. A light Andrew Scott, let’s just say. I’m so glad you watched it, man. I didn’t know you were gonna see it—but it changes, and it gets rather interesting. So I would say, stick with it. 

KC: I will. I’m looking forward to it.

LP: It’s an interesting story. And my character goes through some real turmoil. He changes, let’s just say. As the business grows, he goes through quite a few trials and tribulations. It’s a really cool character to have been given. And that accent came so easy for me. I really don’t know why it was, but certain things just click, and that one always just felt right. Sometimes I do it now when I’m ordering a Guinness just to sound a bit more like I know what I’m talking about.

KC: I mean, you and I have shared a couple of Guinnesses in our time, and that’s why I was excited. That was the only disappointment in the first two episodes, was that I didn’t get to see you drink a Guinness.

LP: That’s episode three, I think. [Laughs]

KC: It feels like there’s a real maturity in your performance. A maturity mixed with the immaturity there in the character. It’s the most mature performance I’ve seen you give, which was cool.

LP: Thank you. I appreciate that.

KC: I know you and I have spoken a bunch about what we want to do with our careers, but what about the possibility of the way you view theater and TV, and the kind of directions that you want to start going in as an actor as you’re forging your career? How are you feeling about the future, and the next couple years? Do you have a sort of idea in your head about what you want that to look like, or are you just sort of going where the wind blows?

LP: Yeah, that’s the interesting thing. As I get older, I think rather than adding on to what’s already there, it might be nice to experiment with making something that’s near and dear to you. Because I find when I care about something or a person or the character I’m playing, like with Sid Vicious, I really, really cared about him. And it made my job so much easier, to the point where it just felt natural. I had something that I wanted to say about him. I had an angle that other people didn’t necessarily share. I felt like I was doing a service and acting on behalf of someone I cared about. I’ve just been thinking recently, it might be nice to come up with something that I really care about, which is the real joy of our jobs, that we have the ability to do that. I suspect the next few years, I hope that it’s a mixture of both waiting for the phone to ring and going out there and forging your own work. But that being said, I want to do theater a little less after seeing you do it, because there’s no way I can compete with that. No way. [Laughs]

I’d love to do some theater. But it’s always been, ever since the second job after Enola, which was Pistol: Just stretch yourself. And if somebody believes you can do a part, do it. Even if you don’t think you can. And I’m hoping that there are more accents and more weird characters that I get to play and have fun with. 

KC: I think that’s a good mindset to have. Do you think that you would want to write something someday?

LP: There’s a couple stories I’ve tried writing. Fuck me is it hard. I’ve spent countless hours staring and thinking, what now? So I have a newfound respect for anyone who can write a proper story. So it remains to be seen whether that is for me. I don’t know whether it’s the writing or the creating of a story, or working with somebody to bring something to life, or a story that’s already there and just building something. Who knows? There’s a couple of things I’m thinking about, but I think to speak them out loud would be to jinx myself.

KC: We’ll be seeing it in five, ten years.

LP: Exactly. 

KC: I’ll be first in line.

LP: When I get back from Malta. We’ll have a catch-up, a proper one.

KC: We will. I’ll buy you a Guinness.

LP: Can’t wait.

This cover story appears in the pages of VMAN 55: now available for purchase!

Photography Alvaro Beamud Cortés (Interlude Project)

Fashion Davey Sutton

Creative Director/Editor-in-Chief Stephen Gan

Interview Kit Connor

Editor Charlie Kolbrener

Hair Stylist Brady Lea (A-frame Agency) using Sam McKnight

Makeup Artist Gina Kane (Caren Agency) using Shiseido

Production Rosco Production

Digital Technician Sacha Philips

Location Loft Studios

Photo Assistants Simone Triacca, Lucy Rooney

Fashion Assistant Emilia Zentner 

Production Assistant Ralph Kitt Green