Noah Jupe is used to big names. At just nineteen-years-old, he has already been directed by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh and acted alongside Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman and Matt Damon (twice!). For his latest project, Apple TV’s Franklin, Jupe was transported to late 18th century France to star opposite Michael Douglas, playing the grandson of Douglas’ Benjamin Franklin. Released at the same time, Jupe stars in thriller series, Lady in the Lake; set amongst the race and class struggles of 1960s Baltimore, as the son of an investigative journalist played by Natalie Portman.

“Movies were my life. For hours after the movies ended I’d play them out again, doing them my way.”

Barry Pierce: You look like you’re having the time of your life in Franklin, how did you become involved in the show?
Noah Jupe: It really was the time of my life. I was seventeen, filming in Paris for an entire year, getting to dress in these amazing costumes with some of the top French and American actors, ever. The job was a dream. I mean, you hear a project is shooting for a year in Paris with Tim Van Patten directing and Michael Douglas starring, you can’t really say no.

BP: What was it like to work opposite someone as legendary as Michael Douglas?
NJ: It was pretty daunting. It’s always nerve-wracking when you first meet someone like that, especially when it’s someone you’ve grown up with your whole life and you’ve seen in so many pivotal roles. Michael was very charming, positive, kind and very humble. To be like that as a person with his level of stature is really impressive.

BP: Did he give you any words of advice? From an acting legend to a young actor.
NJ: Obviously, you’re taking in every single bit of information you can when you’re working alongside an actor like this. What was great was that he didn’t stand there and impart his wisdom on me, he wanted me to see him as an equal. He really made sure that everybody felt like they could talk to him. And I suppose that’s what I learned from him – his professionalism.

BP: When did acting begin for you?
NJ: Acting came into my life when I was about nine or ten, when I had my first chance to audition. My mum told me I shouldn’t do it because the industry’s a fucked place, and she was kind of right. [laughs] But I really wanted to try it out. Luckily, I got a job and from that, I just couldn’t leave the set. I loved the vibe of it – how the crew became this new family. Suddenly, I was like, “This is where I need to be.” But when I think back to it, I never wanted to be an actor as a kid. But I was very invested in movies. Movies were my life. For hours after the movies ended I’d play them out again, doing them my way. I’d become the characters. I even had this one friend who, sadly, wasn’t my friend anymore because I was pretending to be a cheetah and he was getting really scared and asked my mum if she could ask his mum to pick him up from my house. [laughs]

BP: Most actors your age are still in drama school, hoping to have their breakouts in their early 20s. However, you’ve been in the industry for about a decade now and your IMDb is insanely impressive.
NJ: I think most people, if they were presented with the opportunity of learning on the job or learning in a school beforehand, would choose on the job. It’s the real thing. I’ve been so lucky to have such a lovely career so far.

BP: You’ve acted exclusively for screen so far, does the stage entice you at all?
NJ: Yeah! During the strike, I did some little experimental pieces of theatre with my friends, just because we had all this creative energy that we needed to put somewhere. But it’s very scary to me, it’s a whole other style, a whole other skill. My love as a kid was movies and TV, that’s my true passion. But theatre I’ve always loved and I would definitely be open to giving it a go in the future.

“What was great was that [Michael Douglas] didn’t stand there and impart his wisdom on me, he wanted me to see him as an equal.”

BP: You’ve really grown up on the screen, do you struggle to watch any of the projects you were in when you were still really young?
NJ: I gave up being self-conscious a long time ago. It takes so much energy, man. I remember there was this one premiere I did and I look back on it now and it was, like, the worst outfit I could have possibly worn with the worst hairstyle. I was adamant I didn’t want my curly hair, which now I love, but I was adamant I wanted it straightened. I can’t believe my parents let me leave the house like that.

BP: Do you have any idol or icon that you look up to? Like somebody whose career you really admire?
NJ: I think it’s probably bad to have those sorts of people in your life, because the industry’s changing so much, you can’t really model the career of someone from the 60s to someone now. But if I were to say someone, I think it would be Paul Newman. I think about him quite a lot because I worked out that his first big job was when he was, like, 38 or 39, something crazy like that. And he had such a fruitful career in some of the best movies ever. I was thinking, if he started at 38, then I have about twenty more years to do a bunch of movies and practise until I can start doing my best work. [laughs]

BP: You’ve gotten a real head start on Paul Newman. I mentioned that you’ve been in a lot of major projects, is there one in particular that you look back on with a specific fondness?
NJ: For a lot of them, the experiences I had, the skills I learned and the people I worked with have been very special. But I think the biggest one for me, because it genuinely changed my life, was Honey Boy (2019). That movie was a massive step for me out into the real world. There were a lot of topics that I had to have my mum explain to me, which is a pretty awkward scenario for a parent to be in. It was that stepping outside of innocence, learning about how people are, about abuse and toxic relationships, a bunch of stuff that I had to tackle and learn about. I came out of that film more mature and grown up.

hair ROM SARTIPI using ORIBE; make-up JENNY COOMBS at THE WALL GROUP; hair assistant OLIVIA BUCKNALL; photography assistant BRUNO McGUFFIE; fashion assistants SETH ROBERTSON and EMELIA  ZENTNER