The Permanent Rain Press Interview with William Gao | Heartstopper

We chatted with William Gao about his role as Tao Xu in #Heartstopper and the events of Season 1, including character physicality, hair, dancing, cast support, and memorable scenes to film.

"Heartstopper" Season 1 is out now on Netflix.

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#WilliamGao #WillGao

[theprpress]

Who else from the cast would you like to see us interview?

[lonelydummy]

I can understand why Kit is obsessed with this beautiful human

[orynearson]

This entire cast is as sweet as they are talented, really looking forward to their future work. I can't get over how cute Ruppert was climbing on Will's shoulder .🥺

[aaliyahbrown]

my heart melted when he was just talking about how great Yasmin is and then he forgot what the question was

[olly-kai]

He's a great actor. The character's hair is fun... But with his hair like this, you realize how handsome he is! ❤️

[clearmoonhasscars]

i can’t stress enough on this but he is absolutely gorgeous

[jossposs]

I saw a theory about Tao's hair a while ago that I really liked, that it was for Elle because she got suspended for her hairlength, so he grew it out in solidarity. But I guess there was not any deeper meaning behind it 🤔

[andrewschreiber]

What a sweet, charming, and lovely young man. I loved him in the show. My favorite moment is the LOOK he gives Nick when he suggests he try playing rugby. It's perfection.

[sapphicism]

timestamps for all of us who love rewatching :)

0:00 intro
0:18 what drew will gao to tao xu and what challenged him
1:05 casting process (height concerns)
1:38 show production (aesthetic, color palette, props, costumes)
2:08 tao’s hair
3:00 hot seating exercise (tao’s fav film, family, etc)
5:22 working with yasmin “yaz” finney (elle argent)
6:44 fav scenes to film
7:50 what tao took away from the nicktao conversation in episode 8
9:15 interpretative dance scene
10:59 tao twerking and elle reeling scene in episode 6
11:54 episode 7 (tao and harry fight scene)
13:48 fav lines
14:29 more about episode 7
15:01 working with cormac hyde-corrin (harry greene) and the stunt coordinator
16:01 fav scenes to watch
17:03 most anticipated scene to film for (unconfirmed) season 2
17:21 will tao learn to properly run?
18:09 friendship with kit connor (nick nelson) and the rest of the heartstopper cast
19:07 audience response to the show
19:39 outro

thank you so much permanent rain press for this wonderful interview !! <3

[awcrosby]

As I read all the comments, I can’t help but notice how absolutely positive and fabulous they all are. The show truly does show the human connection regardless of sexuality. I love it

[jawshyx]

shame that will's team requested all the cuts, i was ready to put aside an hour just to watch this 😭😭nevertheless another incredible interview! your references and ability to remember little details from the scenes never fail to amaze me each time, i think even will was taken aback!

[loopha]

I can’t wait to see more of his character in future seasons. Amazing interview as always!!

[hoonigiri]

oh my goodness he's so dreamy ><

[divrodricks]

Tao's hair IS ICONIC. It's my FAV physical feature about him.

[olly-kai]

Oh, and if you're not moved by the last scene with Nick and his mom, you must not have a soul. Almost everyone starts tearing up 🥲. Two great actors playing off each other, just superb! And if Kit doesn't get a ton of UK acting honors and/or an Emmy nomination, there's no justice in the world. Joe is amazing, love him, but Kit acted up a storm. compelling, so good.

[Tiluliinaij]

How fascinating it is to hear lovely Will talk about all the bts details of different scenes like dancing or fighting. I'm super interested in TV shows/ film productions so this was very informative. Massive respect for him for absolutely mastering those intense and hard scenes!

[canny_linguist]

Just a few thoughts:

Imagine my lack of surprise that William Tao is a cat person 😺

Everybody hated Tao's goofy hairstyle but also we all begrudgingly agree it was iconic💈

So cute that Will and Yaz actually went to a play and had a meal together 🥰

One of my fave Elle/Tao moments is when they meet up and do that little cheesy dance 🤭

Imagine the pressure of having to perform a staged fight in front of a stunt co-ordinator who worked on Bond 😳

We need the Louvre scene between Tao and Elle for our sanity 🇫🇷

[radberryz]

I LOVE HIM SM HES THE PERFECT TAO HE PLAYED THE CHARACTER SO WELL OMG

[godrickcabral]

I'm sure Kit is the first viewer of this video 😭

[TBHNotGonnaLie]

I see why they needed Tao hair to be the way it was cos gosh Darn Will is gorgeous