You still live near Manchester with your family, right?
I still live in my family home. I haven’t moved out or anything like that. I still go to the same school. I still live a normal life. It’s just that everyone knows who I am now.
Can you go to the local mall and not have people stare at you?
You know what? I haven’t been, but I would assume so. I dunno. I don’t really leave the house. I just sit on my PlayStation all day doing nothing.
That’s like, oh damn. I mean, I know that’s…
No, I love it though. I love being lazy. I just love it. I hate going out.
You mentioned filming “Wuthering Heights” while the show came out. Did they send Emerald screeners of it before so she could see what you had done? Or did you just audition?
Well, when we were doing episode one, Steven recommended his agent to have a look at me. And then my now agent, Maddie came on set and she was watching the episodes and was like, “Oh yeah, we’ll take him.” And then, yeah, I’ve had that agent since, and then she hooked me up with “Wuthering Heights” and said that I’m playing this character and this book. But yeah, I did two months of [“Heights”] before the show came out. It was just like a normal audition process because no one knew who I was then. But when we were doing the final two weeks, the show was out, and Emerald had obviously watched it. But yeah, it was just a normal audition, really.
I assumed that your character was more of just like a flashback version of Heathcliff. Are you in the movie more than we might expect?
Yeah, I’d say so. They might cut things out, but yeah, I mean, if it was a hundred percent, I’d say I’m in 30% of the film.
That’s amazing. O.K., that’s fantastic. Can I ask, what was it like working with Emerald?
Oh, she was lovely. She’s just lovely. She’s just a nice person to be around. Like everyone’s friends. She didn’t seem like she was one of these harsh directors, but she was just a normal person. She was dead nice. And I’ve done free acting gigs now, “Adolescence,” “Film Club,” “Wuthering Heights,” and I haven’t seen anyone that’s been rude or anything like that. Well, touch wood. But yeah, Emils was just amazing, really to work with.
And then another crazy thing is, you shot “Film Club” after you did “Adolescence,” correct?
Yeah. Before “Adolescence” was announced or came out.
Your co-star in that is Aimee Lou Woo, and both you and Amy are now Emmy nominees for different shows.
Wait, Amy got nominated?
Yes. No one told you that she got nominated for “The White Lotus”?
No way!
Yes. [Laughs.]
I can’t wait to see her then.
All I’ve read is that in “Film Club” you play her an obnoxious neighbor. Can you say anything about that role?
Well, yeah, I’m just a little brat that lives near her. And I got introduced to the show because the first AD of “Adolescence.” The first director was working on it, and she was saying, “Oh yeah, the director would love you to play this role.” And the whole crew, all the assistant directors, all the costume team, even the caterers and the drivers that worked on “Adolescence,” they were all working on “Film Club.” So I thought, “Oh yeah, I’d love to do that. I’d love to work with all of them again.” And then obviously I got introduced to the director and Amy, and it was nice. It was really good. I didn’t work on it long, so maybe a month and a half that I did. It wasn’t that long. But yeah, it was funny.
You’re on vacation now. You’ve got the Emmys coming in September. I don’t know how many more years of British High School you have left. Two or three?
I have one. Got one year left.
One year left. So is your goal to just get through this year and then try to act full-time, or are you going to try to take acting gigs over the next 12 months and make it work with school?
I just want to do this for the rest of my life, to be fair. But I dunno about University, college, or anything like that. I’m not going to sit here and say, oh yeah, I love school. I just hate it. I hate everything about it. I’ve hated it since year seven. Well, year seven’s the first year of high school that we’re going into, and I just can’t stand it. I only go to see my mates. That’s about it. But yeah, I just can’t wait for it to be over, but I want to do acting full-time and I just want to do it. I’ve been welcomed into it in the best way possible. Really.
Have you had any other offers for roles over the next year or so to shoot that you either said yes to or no to? Or are you just waiting for the right thing to come along?
Well, yeah, I’ve had a few, which I’ve had to say no to. The one that I said no to was a really, really big one. And I dunno, it just didn’t fall on me, right. I just didn’t really want to do it. And then, yeah, I’ve had a few, and then because I’ve not been on set for four months. I just want to do anything that I can really. But yeah, I’m not scheduled to be filming anything for ages. So yeah, I need to get on set. I’d love to get on set tomorrow.
“Adolescence” is available to watch on Netflix
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