How Leo Woodall is holding his own after 'One Day'

“I haven't seen this one specifically,” Leo Woodall says with a sheepish smile, which has made many hearts race since Netflix abandoned its adaptation of the angsty romantic drama “One Day,” in which he stars. it spreads across his face.

Woodall is well aware that there are a plethora of TikTok videos documenting viewers' intensely emotional response to the series, which chronicles the slow, tortuous 20 years of unlikely friends Dex (Woodall) and Emma (Ambika Mod). His friends have passed some on to him, he says. But after pleasantries are exchanged at the start of this video call on a mid-May morning, with Woodall beaming from London, I share my screen to guide him through a TikTok heartbreak display that's been recorded.

He lets out an enthusiastic laugh as he braces himself for impact.

There is a young woman, wrapped in a green blanket, in various states of complete distress. Another video is a close-up of a young woman wiping tears from her face as she watches an early interaction between Dex and Emma with the caption: “Me 2 days later still crying watching the edits.” The final video shows a viewer who has just finished the series, with the camera directed at his face as he lies in utter despair on a pillow. One by one, Woodall lets out a guilty moan or an “Oh, noooo!” while he examines them.

“We could watch them all day,” Woodall says as the brief presentation comes to a close.

“At first, when the show came out, I was trying to keep up with some of the reactions,” he adds. “He was very intrigued and eager to know what people thought and how they responded, if at all. But there is something cathartic and therapeutic about it. Everyone needs a good cry. We spend a lot of our time observing things and you don't always have a real emotional reaction. And I think the show really managed to find its way into people's hearts.”

It has also helped the actor's rising profile, taking him from a virtual unknown to an international heartthrob. After a key supporting role in the second season of HBO's “The White Lotus,” playing the alleged “nephew” of a gay man who tries to scam Jennifer Coolidge's wealthy character, the 27-year-old actor sent the Internet into an emotional meltdown. in February. with the release of the adaptation of David Nicholls' best-selling novel. In the melancholic, anguished story of friends and lovers, previously adapted for the big screen in 2011 with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, Woodall's Dexter is privileged and charismatic but emotionally tortured as the series chronicles the evolution of their friendship with his witty and stubborn Best friend over two decades on the same day.

“There's definitely a kind of projection that people put on you,” he says. “I have done it myself with actors I have seen. It's a natural thing for you to do. Being on the other side was a bit of a strange feeling. You just can't take it too seriously. You have to find it fun and get on with your life a little. Giving it too much attention is not something I would like to do. “It’s just a fun part of life now.”

Not that Woodall has had much time to understand the attention. Shortly after “One Day” premiered, she took a break from Instagram: “My followers were going up and up and I was like, 'Oh, cool.' But then I thought: I'm going to put my phone away.” He also began production in Budapest, Hungary, on the Nazi drama “Nuremberg,” a film whose cast includes Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon and Rami Malek. Once finished, she has begun working on the fourth installment of “Bridget Jones's Diary” alongside Renée Zellweger.

Next step for Leo Woodall? Appearing in the upcoming film “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”

(Jennifer McCord / for The Times)

Although Woodall comes from a family of actors (his parents met at drama school and he is a descendant of silent film star Maxine Elliott), he hadn't always dreamed of pursuing a life as an actor. He thought maybe there was something sporty in his letters. He then discovered “Peaky Blinders” and “Skins,” and curiosity arose.

“I just remember I was on a gap year, working in a bar, not doing anything of great value to my future, and I guess I started thinking about it,” he says. “It was a few things: it was 'Peaky Blinders' and also 'Skins.' I watched both seasons that Jack O'Connell was in. I remember seeing his character and saying, 'Wow, that's funny.' Whatever you're doing, it's fine.' I started researching how he got to where he was and his path to playing that character. And yes, watching 'Peaky Blinders' and I wanted to imitate Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) in front of the mirror. [Laughs] I had the hat and I thought, 'Screw it, no one's watching.' I'll just do it.' He is very embarrassing. He would start improvising in the world of 'Peaky Blinders.'”

She graduated in 2019 from the School of Art Education, where she studied acting, before landing minor roles in television shows such as “Vampire Academy” and “Citadel.” She was filming “The White Lotus” when she watched the film version of “One Day” as prep work for her audition: “I didn't know how it was going to end,” she says. “And I remember I was in my kitchen cooking something, and I looked away for a second and looked back and Emma had been hit. And I was like, 'What the fuck? 'How could you do us like this?!'”

It added to his intrigue of, as he himself describes it, “a love story that really wasn't just a romantic story. It's about these two people growing up together and also growing apart. It's more about their friendship than 'Are they getting together?' I know that's a big part of this, but you just see a real friendship.” Then there's the complexity of Dex's journey.

“It's incredibly fragile and vulnerable,” he says. “I think there's a perception of him, not just from people within the story world, but also from people who have seen the show, that he has kind of a reputation and as you go along you learn that he's very insecure.” , who feels alone. a lot of the time. He just wants to be connected to the people he cares about. He gets in his own way most of the time. But honestly, he is someone who has a big heart. And he breaks more than once.”

Woodall humbly scoffs when asked what he's learned about what it takes to play a leading man: “Oh, I don't know yet. Honestly, there are still a lot of things to figure out. At the beginning of filming, he didn't know exactly which foot to put forward. Then I said, 'Just do your job and be nice.'” But he is excited about this chapter of his story.

“It's very sweet, very funny,” he says. “I've been away from home for a long time and that can affect your happiness. So now I'm back in London and I'm very happy to come back and see all my people and continue working. I hope I can continue like this. That's the game of acting, you never know. There is a momentum that exists.”