It's Time to Brush Up on Louis Partridge
Louis Partridge is refreshingly honest, humble as can be, and hitting the Venice Film Festival with a legendary director and powerful project behind him. He has already graced screens as Sid Vicious in Pistol and Lord Tewkesbury in Enola Holmes (the original and the sequel). He is well-dressed, well-composed, and a whopping 21 years of age. And now he’s stepping onto the screen once more as Jonathan in Apple TV+’s new limited series Disclaimer, directed by none other than Alfonso Cuarón. So yeah: If you aren’t already paying attention to the up-and-coming English actor, now might be the time to brush up.
Before Disclaimer premiered in Venice, Partridge and I were able to spend some time chatting. The first topic on our agenda? His Prada fit. “It’s my first customized look, so it does feel rather special,” he says. “It’s weird to think that somebody has been grinding away to get my measurements right. I’m sure I could have given input, but I think I’ll let them do what they do. I’m happy to let Prada take the reins on that one.”
He might be letting Prada take the reins on his red-carpet look, but Partridge is taking the lead on just about everything else. From his most powerful performance yet to fashion and curious hobbies, he filled me in on what’s next. Read on to make your own reckoning of Hollywood’s newest force.
A Full-Circle Moment
“I’ve been to Venice before when the festival was happening, but I’ve not done any of the festivities—as in the red carpets. I’ve sort of been a bystander. I was very lucky to get invited to a Prada dinner in Venice—which was a long way to go for dinner but one of the loveliest I’ve had. It was at the Fondazione Prada, and it overlooks the canal. It’s gorgeous. But yeah, this time is going to be something else. I do remember it being very hot, so I’m interested to see how that’s going to work out the suit I’ve got. Prada has made me an amazing custom look—a kind of Brad Pitt–inspired, popped-collar type of thing—which feels quite breezy, quite cool. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to carry it off even half as well as he can.”
Some Brands
“I used to be quite sort of brand-centric, but now I’m very happy to throw on something that’s a faded, muted color. I like greens, browns, earthy colors—and it’s a lot more about the fit these days for me. I’ve got this jacket that I really like. It’s a working jacket from Re/Done with a little ‘Texaco’ on it, and I wear that quite a lot. Also, I’ve been wearing Adidas Sambas and Gazelles. There are just so many colors to choose from, and they go with everything. I don’t think you can really beat them. I bought a pair of Chuck Taylors recently, which I used to wear quite a lot, and it’s nice to come back to an old friend—a classic silhouette. I also discovered a shop called Buck Mason in America. Brilliant. They just do the best-fitting T-shirts that I think I’ve ever come across. I was in Nashville, and I went into one of their shops, and there was an old Porsche there, and I was like, ‘Oh God, this is great.’”
On Alfonso Cuarón
“I was quite nervous. It’s always funny stepping onto set with someone who’s got such a reputation as being great and trying to figure out why they are so good. But he was brilliant. He was not particularly easy to please, but obviously that has its benefits. You don’t want a director saying it’s perfect when it really isn’t, because then you start to second-guess and think, Is that really right? Even when you think you’ve done well and they’re happy, you think, Are they really happy? So you want to know where you stand, for better or for worse. And he’s a lovely fellow. We hung out quite a bit in Italy because we were away from home shooting there, and he made a real effort to have cast dinners and have us over to his house. He taught me a little bit about wine, which is fun. Yeah, he’s a big wine freak.”
Bursts of Pride
“I took myself to a jujitsu class recently. I found the nearest one to me, I knew nobody, and went to see what it was all about. I ended up really, really, really enjoying it. And I’ve been doing it for a little while now. I was proud of myself for doing that. It’s one of those things that you do and then think after the fact, Oh, that’s kind of brave. I wanted to exercise, and that sort of thing is very intimate as well. I went straight into straddling an old bloke, which took getting used to. But it’s funny because after a while it becomes kind of normal. And your social bubble pops, and you feel kind of uncomfortable, which I think is a good thing.”
Into the Character of Jonathan
“This one was interesting, because there was a big shift in the character. There were two things to prepare, and for Alfonso, it was all about the contrast between the two. So I was just working on pushing one in one direction and really stretching that gap between the other one so that the audience will have no idea on what’s coming. For the latter one, I had to understand why people act in that way. I did some research into narcissism and borderline personality disorder and just what motivates a person to do something that we would consider to be evil, because I don’t imagine people doing it feel that it is evil. Either they feel like they’re justified to do it, or they don’t care for whatever reason. I say all this, but when you’re there filming, it goes completely out the window, and you’re just looking at the person. If something’s really, really powerful, it will stick in your mind, but I’d say almost 99 percent of the homework I do disappears as soon as I step on set. And you’ve just got to hope that it’s within you somewhere when the camera starts rolling.”
Up Next
“I worked with Noah Baumbach recently. I wrote a list when I was maybe 14 of directors I’d love to work with—I think I’d seen one of his films and heard that he was a good director—so I threw him on there. Even though that list wasn’t particularly insightful, it was nice to end up actually working with him. I didn’t have a massive part, but he was great, and I met some pretty amazing people through the job. I’m adding that to the list of things I’m proud of. And I had to do a monologue in front of Adam Sandler and George Clooney—two legends, both absolutely charming and lovely. Other than that, I’m filming this show in Manchester called House of Guinness, a Netflix show written by Steven Knight, who wrote Peaky Blinders, and I’ve got quite a cool part in it. It’s a family, Succession-esque drama about this brewery set in Dublin 1870. It’s just kind of dark and gloomy and fun.”
Baring All
“I’m excited for everybody to see it, too, as long as I’m not in the room with them. There’s a lot of nudity on my part. The show does open with it.”
And you let your parents or grandparents watch that?
“Yeah, they’ve seen it all before.”
Photographs: Emilio Madrid
Styling: Chris Brown
Grooming: Brady Lea
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