We had a pleasure speaking with Connor Jessup, our digital cover star.

In the past you did film photography, do you still do anything in that direction?

A little. I'd like to do more. I take pics on-set with my little Olympus point-and-shoot, but otherwise my cameras are dusty. I struggle here at home, for some reason. I'm better in other places. Photography is good for me. I have a bad habit of drifting and it makes me pay attention. It makes my memory click on and record. And worrying about a single moment, a single idea, instead of a whole string of them, is a happy change of pace.

We heard you are a movie buff. Have you watched any cool new movies recently during quarantine and which would you recommend?

So many. My best friend and I quarantined together from March to July and we watched a movie every night. I fell mad for Jane Campion's Bright Star. She found the exact center between sensuality and wordiness. Ben Whishaw fuck! I watched it 3x in two days. A friend recommended Truffaut's Small Change. So wise and wonderful. Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, which we somehow hadn't seen. It's an absolute masterclass in how to move talking people around rooms. Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon, Mia Hansen-Løve's Father of My Children, William Wyler's The Heiress (Olivia de Havilland!)a herd of surprising François Ozon movies: In the House, Swimming Pool, Summer of 85. James L. Brooks' Broadcast News, Kelly Reichardt's First Cow, Kirsten Johnson's Dick Johnson is Dead. We did a Carol Ballard marathon. Fly Away Home and Duma are beautiful movies.

We have seen Locke & Key, a Netflix hit series where you star as one of the lead characters. Is there a season two in the works and what are some of your favorite moments from the first season?

We're shooting season two now! It should come out sometime next year. It'll sound cheap, but my memories of the first season are mostly tangled up with people, not work. One of the pleasures of TV is that you get to build relationships over time. There's a deepening that happens. You share so many long, cold nights and early mornings and sleepy lunches and casual bitchings. You see each other's vulnerabilities and frustrations and capacities. There's a sort of beautiful, collective delirium that moves in. A lot of cry-laughing. I remember getting caught in a 3am thunderstorm with Emilia and Griffin and laughing so hard I literally couldn't walk.

Have you been able to be creative during these weird current times and have you learnt anything new?

In waves. I got a lot of writing done between April and July, but I've been stuck since. My brain is not very schematic, so the transition from gathering to ordering is hard for me. I can be really unkind to myself. None of the struggle is original, so I won’t bore you. But there were a few productive months! I realized I had always thought of writing as a technical process, and that I needed to start thinking of it as an emotional one….as basic as that sounds. I learned that I can't write drunk.

What is your daily beauty routine like? And what beauty products you cannot go without?

My beauty routine is so quick it's almost homophobic. I won't embarress myself by saying more.

Tell us something about yourself that isn't on your resume.

When I was in fifth grade, I performed "It's Raining Men" in drag for a school lip sync competition.

 Are there any other exciting new projects you are working on?

I'll be shooting Locke & Key for a while, but there's a short film I'm hoping to make in Japan whenever I can. Beyond that, I'm trying to focus on writing my first feature. It's a grief adventure movie about a boy and a god.

PHOTO CREDITS:

talent and photography: CONNOR JESSUP

editor: TIMOTEJ LETONJA

stylist: DONTE MCGUINE

make-up: BRENDA THURSTON

Timotej Letonja