In the second season of Heartstopper, available on Netflix, Kit Connor had the opportunity to speak in the language of Molière. How did Nick’s interpreter learn to master French?
Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to have seen Season 2 of Heartstopper before continuing to read this article.
Available since August 3 on Netflix, season 2 of Heartstopper is already a hit. Fans were eagerly awaiting the sequel to the adventures of Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) and the new episodes were a whole other whirlwind of emotions for the two lovebirds.
This second season of the series adapted from the British graphic novels by Alice Oseman even takes them to Paris for three episodes. This school trip takes them to discover the most famous cultural and tourist sites of the French capital such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or the Marais and Montmartre districts.
But this trip to France also allows Nick to see his French father Stéphane, played by Thibault de Montalembert (Ten percent), who doesn’t take much care of him in general. And Nick gets a chance to show off his language skills as he speaks French very well, much to the surprise of his classmates and Charlie.
Kit Connor learned French for season 2 of Heartstopper
And the passages where Nick speaks in French overwhelmed the fans, who were full of praise for his abilities but also his charming accent. Audiences were already eager to check out the footage when teaser videos of the two main actors were released, like the one below:
But then how did Kit Connor learn to appropriate the language of Molière? With a lot of work. In the Heartstopper Season 2 press kit, the British actor recalled his Zoom audition where he was asked if he could speak French and if he could play rugby.
Kit Connor then said that he was doing a bit in both disciplines, imagining that these two criteria would help him get the role. But ever since, it has haunted him. Until the fateful moment of the second season when his character goes on a school trip to Paris, and finds his French father there.
“In the end, there weren’t a lot of French lines in this season, but that was a lot for me. We had this French teacher who was really lovely, but also a little scary because I was really bad.
We focused on the sounds and my pronunciation so that I speak French as well as possible. There’s a scene where I’m buying ice cream and talking to the vendor. In the original script it says ‘Oh, are you English? Your accent is perfect’ and it was a nightmare for me.”
netflix
Kit Connor put pressure on his sequences in French and were afraid of disappointing French fans, who moreover kindly laugh at this sequence, in which Kit Connor makes efforts to have a correct French accent, as evidenced by these reactions on social networks. But one thing is certain, the scene at the Louvre where Nick says “My love” to Charlie was able to capsize the spectators.
In the end, the actor is rather happy and proud of himself: “I think I did well. I think my pronunciation is pretty decent for someone who isn’t French or doesn’t speak French fluently. But I think French people will be like ‘Oh, au the less he tries’ when they will see the scenes”.
Heartstopper season 2 is available on Netflix.