ALISON BOSHOFF: White Lotus actor Leo Woodall lands a starring role in the film adaptation of A Waiter in Paris.
Britain’s rising star Leo Woodall is up for the ‘Breakthrough’ award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards this Sunday – and I’ve heard the White Lotus actor pictured has just landed another major lead in a film.
Charismatic Leo, 26, will lead the cast of an adaptation of the best-selling memoir A Waiter In Paris.
Casting was the talk of the town this spring in Cannes and Leo is being compared by some to a young Jude Law – or even (whisper) Robert Redford.
The book has been causing a stir for some time. It’s about a young Englishman – known simply as “L’Anglais” – who is dumped by his snooty French girlfriend and dreams of becoming a real Parisian waiter.
The reality of being poor in the most romantic city in the world is difficult for him.
Rising star: White Lotus actor Leo Woodall has just landed another big starring role in the film (pictured in White Lotus)
Exciting times: The charismatic Leo, 26, will lead the cast of an adaptation of the best-selling memoir ‘A Waiter in Paris’ (pictured in February)
Film critic and producer Jason Solomons has secured the rights to the book, and I hear Whit Stillman, best known for The Last Days Of Disco, will direct it.
An ArtsEd graduate, Woodall played the Essex boy Jack on White Lotus, who was on holiday with his “uncle” Quentin, played by Tom Hollander.
In an interview he said of the role: “When I auditioned I watched four videos of Joey Essex beforehand.
“During the shoot, they all had no idea what I was saying half the time. All Americans in the cast. . . mike [White, the showrunner], the Italians . . . Nobody really knew what I was saying.
“The moment I thought maybe I’d gone too far was when I said ‘dos Jägermeister, dos Red Bull’ when speaking Spanish to the Italian bartenders.” . but it’s still in there, so obviously it wasn’t too much.”
Woodall is next set to star in a Netflix TV adaptation of the David Nicholls book One Day alongside Ambika Mod.
Mod has been praised for her performance as would-be doctor Shruti Acharya on BBC One drama This Is Going to Hurt, starring Ben Whishaw.
The new series was filmed last summer and will be released later this year. (The book was also adapted into a feature film starring Anne Hathaway in 2011.)
Popular: Casting was the talk of the town this spring in Cannes and Leo is being compared by some to a young Jude Law – or even (whisper) Robert Redford (pictured in February)
Congratulations: Britain’s rising star Leo is nominated for a Breakthrough award at this Sunday’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards
He made Leo’s acting debut in a short film called Man Down in 2019 and also starred in an episode of Holby City that same year.
In 2021, he starred in Cherry, directed by the Russo brothers, alongside Spider-Man star Tom Holland.
He also played Adrian Ivashkov in two episodes of the Universal series The Vampire Academy in 2022.
His star continues to rise as he was cast in the role of co-lead Dexter Mayhew in the BBC adaptation of David Nicholls’ seminal novel One Day during the making of The White Lotus.
The actor will also appear in “Nomad” and in the TV series “Citadel” alongside Priyanka Chopra and Stanley Tucci.