In the independent coming-of-age drama film Young Hearts, Lou Goossens plays lead character Elias opposite Marius De Saeger as Alexander, with the film directed by Anthony Schatteman and released by Peccadillo Pictures in the UK and Ireland. Lou won the Best Male Performance in a Feature Film Award at the Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Festival, with Young Hearts also winning the Best Feature Award. Young Hearts is a Dutch/French feature, and sees Lou’s character Elias feel attracted to his new neighbour Alexander, which leads to him confused by his burgeoning feelings. For Lou’s first role, he played Flor in the award-winning short film Alleen Ik (Only me, me alone) in 2022. We spoke to Lou about starring in the coming-of-age drama film Young Hearts, playing Elias in the feature opposite Marius De Saeger as Alexander and his first role in award-winning short film Alleen Ik (Only me, me alone).
How would you describe your character Elias in the independent coming-of-age drama film Young Hearts?
I think that’s a really nice question, first and foremost, because I think it goes hand-in-hand with how I wanted to portray him. When I read Elias on paper, I really felt that there was some need of him going through a certain intensity – finding his trademarks, certain actions, and certain things that he would do. To me, Elias really needed to represent what it means to be in a state of development, of unfolding our personality.
That is also what happens with the plot: with him getting to know Alexander, he also gets to know a new part of himself. But I think, for Elias, it was really important for him to go through certain awkward attempts of finding himself – attempts of actions, of certain things that he did, that is kind of like shopping for your personality. I really wanted to depict that with Elias.
For example, in certain scenes, he would do things that were maybe quite a bit unnatural for him, but he really tries to look out for certain things that could be acquiring to his new personality, because that’s what happens. Or that’s what I did when I was in that phase of development.
To keep my answer compact, I think that’s really what Elias is throughout the film – he is really looking for himself. By getting to know Alexander, he also books success within searching and exploring his sexuality, but that can also be very scary because it’s new, it’s change. This is the first time that we kind of get to see that part of ourselves, so I do think that’s also the reason he struggles with it most of the time because it’s new and he’s in this state of development.
What was it like reading the Young Hearts script for the first time and how was it telling the story of the film?
Reading the script for the first time was truly something special. It was my first feature film, and I got to also play the lead. I had met Marius (De Saeger) also, so I knew who I was going to play with. I knew the cast, I knew Anthony, so I kind of could already imagine some of the things that were going to go down when shooting this film.
When I read the script, it was almost like a confirmation of what I already thought. My original thought was okay, in this film it’s going to be really important for us to kind of keep our pureness and our innocence in the characters – like how we look at each other, certain looks and conversations. I really knew that Anthony was looking for something pure.
When I read the script, it was just a great confirmation of that thought and that we were on the same page. Reading the script, I really felt this pureness that we have in our acting and towards each other was going to be really important.
How was it filming with Marius De Saeger (who plays Alexander) and being directed by Anthony Schatteman?
The co-operation with Marius and Anthony, to me, was fantastic. I got to meet Anthony throughout the year, and then later on I got to meet Marius on the last casting day. I knew that I wanted to do this because I really felt a connection with the story. It was something that I was really interested in, and I felt that it would also be a nice challenge for me.
When I got to meet Marius later on, it was almost strange how much chemistry we had – and luckily, Anthony also felt it otherwise he wouldn’t have casted us… Everyone could almost feel it. My brother, for example, said that sometimes when looking at us in scenes, you really feel this chemistry. To be able to do that with someone so fluently, without needing it to be forced, was truly a gift, and I’m really, really thankful for that.
How did you feel booking your leading role of Elias and how did you prepare for taking on the character?
My preparation for the role of Elias, to me, was interesting. I had certain things that I really wanted to research and prepare for, but there were other scenes that I really believed that with researching it or pushing it too hard, I would almost kill it. For example, there was a pureness and innocence in my acting, and I didn’t really want to focus on that, because I knew that if I did, then it would be forced. I really wanted to let that go because I had trust in Anthony. Anthony advised that. I had trust in that so I left that alone in preparation.
What I did want to research was this feeling of being closeted, and also the joy of getting the chance to come out of that trapped feeling. Luckily, my niece was doing a show called Safer Space, and it was a showing where six queer people would come on the stage and they would perform their poems and art pieces that they wrote in function of being queer – so they would write things about their queerness and about that trapped feeling. For me, it was the jackpot – it was insane that I could experience that and use it as my preparation.
I went there and I don’t think that I will ever get the same feeling again where I was like ‘Oh my God, this is perfect. This is exactly what I need’. For me, that really played a big part in how I would portray this feeling of being trapped and this turmoil. I’m really thankful to have been able to experience that.
What are some of your favourite memories from your time involved with Young Hearts?
I think one of my favourite memories from shooting this film was really those final scenes, when we had the whole shoot behind us. My favourite scenes were the scenes between Marius and me because it was just so simple getting into them, and we knew that we were delivering something. We really felt the magic.
In a way, you’re also representing someone’s youth, since it’s partially based on Anthony’s youth, so you really get this feeling of ‘okay, I’m doing something right’. You really feel like you’re doing something more than just acting. And I think that just those simple moments, that feeling within, were just so special to me – being able to participate in this project and getting to know all of these people.
It was just, for me, a truly extraordinary experience, and I’m really, really thankful for that.
What do you remember most from filming your first role of Flor in the 2022 award-winning short film Alleen Ik (Only me, me alone)?
What I remember most from my time filming Alleen Ik (Only me, me alone) – in 2021 I think, or 2022, I’m not sure – was really, for me, about methods of preparation and how that would affect you on set. This short was about a young neurodivergent boy, and it was really impulsive. What I did for preparation was I really worked intensely with the director – Jasper (De Maeseneer), and with the whole crew, and I really focused on character building. To me, that was almost a key to what Jasper wanted.
He wanted some scenes that were really impulsive, and he really didn’t want to feel the lines through it at all. He didn’t even want me to have a scenario or a script. We really focused on improvisation and the function of character building, and by hard work, we pulled it off. I didn’t see a script on set – never. Everything was improvised. I knew what I wanted to tell, and what Jasper wanted to tell especially, and I was just a medium to do so, and I was free in how I did it.
I think it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. Also, it was really nice to get comfortable with improvisation and not see it as this blank space that is needing to be filled with really strange things. Getting comfortable with improvisation was really important for me, and I really felt how important that was on other sets, and especially on Young Hearts also, so I think that one will stick.
Follow Lou on: