Photographer Anka Garbowska
Fashion Nicholas MacKinnon
Groomer Alex Keating at Forward Artists using Oribe
Writer Sam Cohen
Producers Tessa Swantek and Trevor Person
Location Special Thanks Marylou NYC
Movement Director Brian Poniatowski
Photo Assistant Sasha Brons
On Set BTS Photographer Ottavia Giola
"As a kid, I believed you could catch light with your hands and then let it out in a dark room. I didn't believe it for long because I tried it and it didn't work."
As an actor, Louis Hofmann is always looking for an entry point into his characters. Sometimes that presents itself through an acquired skill, and other times through an accent as a simplified way to break down the complex undertaking of walking around in someone else’s skin. If one of his friends and fellow actors needed an entry point to become him, Louis says they would need to adopt a tone of sarcasm and pull the back of their shirt down with their left hand (very important) to create a higher neckline.
Who Louis is as an individual is harder to nail down than those small elements suggest. As a German who has currently made a home for himself in London, he is constantly experiencing the prism shift between what makes him feel most like himself (speaking in his native tongue in Berlin) and what has allowed him to advance his career (speaking in English in a British accent). Regardless of how he shifts the prism, though, there is always an innate refraction of light from within. That is fitting, given that he used to believe as a child that he could capture light, seal it between his palms, and then release it to illuminate a dark room.
His character in Lilies Not For Me, Charles, embodies Louis’s childhood belief. It’s a quality that director Will Seefried believes came from Louis’s personality. So, maybe, the real entry point to Louis as a person is harnessing the power of his internal sun and letting it dispel the shadows in a darkened room. The key may be oranges, if you know you know.
Lilies Not For Me is now streaming digitally.
Take in the full 18-page story beyond this teaser. Our brand new Spring Summer 2025 issue, "A Little Light" is available to buy online.
