'One Day' Star Leo Woodall Reveals The Scene He Found 'terrifying' To Film, Why He Thinks Dexter Is A Bit Stupid And Admits He Does NOT Want The Series To Be Compared To 'Normal People'

One Day star Leo Woodall has become an overnight hit after his portrayal of Dexter Mayhew alongside Ambika Mod's Emma Morley in the Netflix series.

The 27-year-old actor, who first rose to prominence after appearing as Jack in the second season of White Lotus, spoke about his experience in this month's GQ Hype.

Leo's character Dexter spends the night with Emma on her last night at university and the series follows their relationship on the same day for the next 20 years.

The two continue to immerse themselves in each other's lives, largely due to the difficulties Emma has with Dexter's changing personality after she achieves a low profile.

At this time, Dexter is struggling with his mother's terminal illness, and one scene shows him arriving late at his family's home after a cocaine-fueled night.

One Day star Leo Woodall has become an overnight hit after his portrayal of Dexter Mayhew alongside Ambika Mod's Emma Morley in the Netflix series

Dexter's mother Alison [Essie Davis] gives him some truths about the person he became after getting drunk and falling asleep in his childhood bedroom.

After his visit, his father Stephen arrived [Tim McInnerny] drops him off at the train station and informs him of his recent behavior.

Speaking about the scene, Leo told the publication: “That was f***ing terrifying to film.” You don't even see the worst of it. There were takes where “Action!” he just wiped me out. “It was like there was a tiger in the car.”

Leo admitted that after filming the show, he agreed that his character Dexter can be a jerk because of how he treats the people who love him.

He said: “I know they say not to judge a character, but in hindsight I can say he's screwed. “He becomes a bit more famous, he enjoys it, but a small part of him is convinced himself that he enjoys it.”

Since the show debuted on Netflix last Thursday, it has remained at No. 1 on the streaming platform in 33 countries.

Its early success has been compared to the Sally Rooney adaptation Normal People, which is about Marianne Sheridan [Daisy Edgar-Jones] and Connell Waldron [Paul Mescal] as they weave in and out of each other's lives in similar ways.

However, Leo emphasized that he doesn't want the two coming-of-age dramas to be compared.

The 27-year-old actor, who first rose to prominence after appearing as Jack in the second season of White Lotus, spoke about his experience in this month's GQ Hype

He said: “Normal People was a masterpiece but I don't think it compares. “It's very special, it was shot so beautifully. I don't want to be compared to that.

“One Day has a comedic aspect, but then it gets dark, it takes off.” We'll see if it leads to my anonymity being deleted, like it did with Paul Mescal. I hope that’s not the case, but I really want the show to do well.”

It happened shortly after Ambika described her first meeting with Leo before being cast as the loved ones Dex and Em.

The 29-year-old actress spoke about the “close bond” she formed with Leo while filming the David Nicholls novel adaptation.

On the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, Ambika revealed that there was an immediate connection between the two actors as she described their “playful” reading, which she said was “really rare.”

For this reason, there had to be a believable connection between the two stars playing the characters that was reflected on screen.

Speaking about their first meeting, Ambika said: “I met Leo during chemistry lessons and he was the second Dexter I read with.” He is so cheeky and charming. He was immediately so open and warm and it felt really easy, the scenes felt really playful and I think that's really rare.

“That was really half the battle because I think if the casting had been wrong it would have been a lot harder.” “You just can't fake something like that and I'm really grateful to have had an actor like Leo.”

Ambika further explained how important it was for her that she and Leo would go through the same life-changing role together for the first time.

Leo's character Dexter spends the night with Emma on her last night at university and the series follows their relationship on the same day for the next 20 years (pictured in One Day).

She had previously played the role of junior doctor Shruti in This Might Hurt, while Leo played Cockney Jack in the second season of the HBO hit White Lotus.

Neither of them had taken on major leading roles before and it was a first for both actors to take on such a big task.

She said, “We've both been through something very, very similar.” This was so much bigger than anything either of us had ever done before, and I think we both had a very similar attitude to this endeavor.

“I just remember that, especially at the beginning of filming, it was quite overwhelming and was a huge responsibility, not only because of the size of the roles and the project, but also because the book and the characters are so popular.” and We definitely felt that.'

She explained how they supported each other: “We were both very open when we had problems and felt like things weren't going right.”

“I remember maybe speaking louder than him, but I came out of every scene thinking, 'Oh, I'm a fucking shit actor, I should fucking stop.' I hate myself right now.'

“And he's always been very supportive of me, and I hope the opposite is the case.” “It was good to have someone like that, because as an actor you might not always have that.”