IT’S NEW YEAR’S EVE, 1999, AND IT FEELS LIKE ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN, AND IN THE APOCALYPTIC COMEDY MOVIE Y2K, IT PROBABLY WILL. AS THE CHANGE IN MILLENNIUM IGNITES A Y2K BUG WHERE ELECTRICAL GADGETS GO BESERK, MURDEROUSLY TURNING ON HUMANS, THE FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL BEGINS. AT THE HEART OF THE DISASTER, IS ELI, A NERDY LOSER CRUSHING HARD ON A GIRL, WHOSE LIFE REVOLVES AROUND HIS COMPUTER AND HIS BEST FRIEND, PLAYED BY ACTOR JAEDEN MARTELL.

THE 21-YEAR-OLD IS NO STRANGER TO TENSE, HORROR-FILLED AND APOCALYPTIC WORLDS, HAVING PLAYED A NERVY YOUNG BRAINIAC IN THE SURVIVAL THRILLER, ARCADIAN; THE YOUNG BILL DENBROUGH TERRORISED BY A KILLER CLOWN IN IT AND A TEEN ACCUSED OF MURDER IN THE APPLE TV+ MINISERIES DEFENDING JACOB. SINCE HIS BREAKOUT IN 2014 IN THE COMEDY DRAMA ST. VINCENT, WITH OTHER CREDITS INCLUDING THE WHODUNNIT MYSTERY KNIVES OUT, MARTELL HAS BEEN FLEXING HIS RANGE AS AN ACTOR, WITH A COMPELLING ON-SCREEN PRESENCE. HERE HE TALKS TO US ABOUT COMFORT ZONES, LIFE REALISATIONS AND LEARNING TO EMBRACE THE FIRE WITHIN.

Left Full look **Sacai**
Right Jacket **Area**, pants **N°21**, underwear **Calvin Klein**

Your character in the movie, Y2K, is a bit of a nerd and outsider and I imagine that’s fun to explore, figuring out who this character is, and being on set with your peers and bringing that vibe together?

What’s fun is every character comes from their own clique and has their own identity. Eli is a nerd because who knows what else there is to call him? He’s shunned for his lack of self. He’s a blank canvas without any ties to a niche, or slice of culture like everyone else, so it comes across as a lack of conviction. He’s eager, he’s hunting for some idea of self. That’s why he tries so hard to be the hero too.

Left Jacket, pants and shoes **Balenciaga**, underwear **Calvin Klein**
Right Full look **Sacai**

You weren’t even born at the end of the 90s, the era in which this movie is set, so tell me what preparation you did for the role to really get into character?

We were constantly absorbed in the music of that time, and of course wearing the clothes too, but again my guy, Eli, is so far removed from all of that. I was blessed with Lachlan [Watson] and Rachel [Zegler] to always keep me in the moment, with their non-stop singing of 90s and 2000s songs. Haha!

Left Top and pants **Sacai**, shoes **Dior Men**
Right Top **Dior Men**

Ok, so name your best 90s artists?

All the hip-hop! Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Digable Planets, Del, Nas.

What about 90s movies?

Magnolia, La Haine. It was a crazy time for Asian cinema too, so A Brighter Summer Day, Rebels of the Neon God, and all Wong Kar-wai’s films. I love Mike Leigh’s stuff too, like Naked and Secrets and Lies.

Worst 90s fashion trend?

What was with everyone’s vendetta against their eyebrows?!

Jacket, tank top and pants **Ami**, shoes **Givenchy**

I’ll have you know I rocked that skinny brow look! Anyhow, moving on. Let’s talk more about fashion and your red-carpet style. How do you approach dressing for events? What other brands do you love and where do you shop?

These days I dress myself. I wear a lot of vintage stuff. I love Bode.

Left Top **Dior Men**, tank top **Ami**
Right Full look **Loewe**

Ok, back to the acting. You’ve played so many complex characters since starting out as a child actor, so I’m curious to know what subject matters are you more drawn to?

All I really want is a role that challenges me, because I need it. I’m not a genius actor or even a natural-born performer. I need experience to push me out of my comfort zone. I say that because I would’ve answered... dark roles, bad guys, I want that. But at the same time, I’m so attracted to something like Y2K because it’s the most challenging of them all, because what do I know about comedy? I get to work with my comedy hero and analyse his approach to performing and he’s directed me. Like what?!

Left Vintage t-shirt, pants **Dsquared2**
Right jacket **Balenciaga**

You fell into acting at a young age too, when you moved to LA, but was there ever an experience or moment that changed everything for you; like seeing a theatre show or film that really ignited the fire in you?

You know what, not really. There was never this singular big realisation for me, but a sort of continuous stream of those moments throughout my life. Constantly trying to understand that weird fire, that thing that feels like unconditional love for something that can be so fruitful and hypnotising but then so damaging and, at the end of the day, will never really say it loves you. It comes with a lot of bad habits, anxieties, and shallow desires and expectations… all these things that make you ask why you care so much! It tests people because it is such a mystical, enticing way of life and if you can’t handle it responsibly, it turns you rotten. So, every day, the fire goes up and down.

Jacket, pants and shoes **Balenciaga**, underwear **Calvin Klein**

So that fire has changed your approach to your craft over the years, would you say? What have you learned about yourself along the way, both professionally and personally?

It changes every time it seems. I’ve been looking for an equation ever since I started, out of fear for my luck running out. But I’ve realised lately it’s mostly about being adaptable and open, which is the same as in life, really. Doing all the work, all the practice or the thinking, right now and always, but being okay with it all shifting, and that work being “wrong” or one big realisation erasing all the other big realisations.

So, I’m guessing you critique your performances then, and is there one that you look back on with a specific fondness?

Yes, I do. Performances, no, not really… but the experiences of shooting and the things I learned performance-wise, absolutely!

Left Jacket **Balenciaga**
Right Jacket, tank top and pants **Ami**, shoes **Givenchy**

Any acting and directing heroes you’re super keen to work with?

I LOVE Mark Ruffalo. He was in my dreams recently! He and Kang-Ho Song are my favourite actors. They just beam love and energy, with this deep, twisted empathy for their characters. My favourite directors are Bong Joon Ho, Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Altman.

Left Jacket, top and pants **Sacai**, shoes **Dior Men**
Right Top **Dior Men**

What about directing in the future, is that something you would like to do and are there any ideas or stories bubbling away in your mind that you want to explore on screen?

I’m writing a movie right now with a friend, and I think it’s about men. The culture of man, growing up and becoming attuned to all the bad qualities of man. The stifled, sad, and silly ones too. It’s also really about control, because men are more outwardly and often more devastatingly, obsessed with control. I am also writing (and have been writing for nearly 10 years), a movie that will help me understand my relationship with all the stuff I’ve mentioned earlier about acting. Not in a self-pitying or self-flagellating or self-indulgent way… although, maybe it will be all those things, because I’ve got to address those qualities which are present in most actors; but in a way that understands it all, out of intrigue.

Left Top **Dior Men**, tank top **Ami**
Right Full look **Givenchy**

Well, on that reflective note, which is a good place to end, as we’re heading towards the end of this year; what would you like to do more of next year?

Every single year, I tell myself… It’s bulking season. It never sticks. Obviously!

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Wish Thanasarakhan

Fashion by Mauricio Quezada

Hair by Takuya Yamaguchi at The Wall Group using Oribe

Make-Up by Asami Matsuda at Saint Luke Artists using La Prairie

Photographer’s assistants Atiwat Mondee and New Saralertsophon

Stylist’s assistant Eva Megannety