Leo Woodall of One Day on fans’ reaction to the Netflix series: “You have to move on with your life”

We watch a TikTok sample of heartbreak captured on camera, laughing enthusiastically as he braces himself for impact.

There is a young woman, wrapped in a green blanket, in various stages of utter terror.

Another video features a close-up of a young woman wiping tears from her face while watching an early interaction between Dex and Emma. The caption reads, “Me, two days later, still crying watching the cuts.”

In the final video, a viewer who has just finished watching the series can be seen with the camera focused on her face as she lies on a pillow in utter despair.

As Woodall looks through them one by one, he lets out a guilty whimper or an “Oh, noooo!”

“We could watch this all day,” says Woodall as the short presentation draws to a close.

“In the beginning, when the show came out, I was trying to keep up with some of the reactions to it,” he adds.

“I was just very fascinated and really wanted to know what people thought and how they reacted – if they reacted at all. But there is something cathartic and therapeutic about it. Everyone needs a little crying now and then.”

“We spend a lot of time looking at things, and you don’t always have a real, emotional reaction. And I think the show has really managed to work its way into people’s hearts.”

It also contributed to the actor’s fame and turned him from a virtual unknown into an international heartthrob.

After an important supporting role in the second season of the HBO series The White Lotusin the role of 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 free fall in February with the release of Onceadapted from David Nicholls’ bestselling novel.

In the melancholy, angst-ridden story of friends-turned-lovers – previously adapted for the big screen in 2011 with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess – Woodall’s Dexter is privileged and charismatic but emotionally tormented. The series tells the story of his evolving friendship with his witty and stubborn best friend over two decades.

“People definitely project you in a certain way,” he says. “I’ve done it myself with actors I’ve watched. It’s just a natural thing you do.”

“It was a strange feeling to be on the other side. You just can’t take it too seriously. You have to find it funny and just get on with your life a little bit.

“Paying too much attention to it is not something I want to do. It’s just a weird part of life now.”

Woodall, however, did not have much time to understand the attention. Soon after Once Premiere, he took a break from Instagram: “My follower count kept increasing and I thought, ‘Oh, cool.’ But then I thought, I’ll put my phone away.”

He also began producing the Nazi drama Nuremberga film starring Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon and Rami Malek, among others. Now that this is complete, he is working on the fourth installment of Bridget Jones – Chocolate for Breakfast towards Renée Zellweger.

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 – it was not always his dream to pursue a career as an actor.

He thought maybe there was something sporty in it for him. Then he discovered Peaky Blinders And Skinand curiosity was aroused.

“I remember taking a year off, working in a bar and not doing anything really worthwhile for my future, and then I guess I started thinking about it,” he says.

“There were several things: Peaky BlindersAlso Skin. I watched the two seasons with Jack O’Connell. I remember seeing his character and thinking, “Wow, this is fun. Whatever he’s doing, it’s cool.”

“I started to investigate how he got to where he was and how he came to play this character.

“And yes, watch Peaky Blinders and I just felt like imitating Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) in the mirror. (laughs) I had the hat on and thought to myself: “Screw it, nobody’s looking. I’m just going to do it.”

“It’s so embarrassing. I would start improvising in the world of Peaky Blinders.”

He graduated from the Arts Educational School in London in 2019 with a degree in acting before taking on smaller roles in television shows such as Vampire Academy And citadel.

He filmed The White Lotus when he made the film adaptation of Once in preparation for his audition.

“I didn’t know how it was going to end,” he says. “And I remember being in my kitchen, cooking something. I looked away for a second and then looked back. Emma had been hit. And I just thought, ‘What the hell? How could you do this to us?’!”

It deepened his fascination with what he describes as “a love story that wasn’t really just a romantic story.”

“It’s about these two people growing up together and also growing up apart. It’s more about their friendship than whether they get together. I know that’s a big part of it, but you just see a real Friendship.”

Then there’s the complexity of Dex’s journey. “He’s incredibly fragile and vulnerable,” he says. “I think there’s a perception of him – not just from people in the world of the story, but from people who have now seen the show – that he has some kind of reputation, and you learn over time that he’s very insecure and lonely a lot of the time.”

“He just wants to be connected to the people he cares about. He often gets in his own way. But honestly, he’s just someone who has a big, big heart. And it gets broken more than once.”

Woodall modestly scoffs when asked what he’s learned about being a leading man: “Oh, I still don’t know. Honestly, there are so many things left to figure out.”

“At the very beginning of filming, I wasn’t sure which foot to put forward. Then I thought to myself, ‘Just do your job and be nice.'”

But he is excited about this chapter of his story.

“It’s quite sweet, quite funny,” he says. “I’ve been away from home for a very long time and that can affect your happiness. So now I’m back in London and I’m really happy to be back here, to see all my people and still be working.”

“I hope I can keep going like this. That’s the acting thing, you never know. There’s a certain dynamic.”