Schön! 41 digital cover | hero fiennes tiffin

British actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin parlays his young-adult stardom into the forthcoming romance, First Love.

Between the releases of the third and fourth instalments of the wildly successful After film franchise, Fiennes Tiffin took a moment to explore “the flip side to the romance coin” through a multi-layered, abstract lens. Written and directed by A.J. Edwards, First Love takes place in the wake of The Great Recession of 2008 and follows high school senior Jim (Fiennes Tiffin) as he falls for Ann (Sydney Park), amid his parents’ financial woes.

Jim is “different – almost in every way” from the dark and mysterious Hardin in After. “He’s super considerate and new to talking to girls,” the actor adds. “He definitely hasn’t had as much practice.” When his father loses his job, Jim’s family has to find a new place to live, putting added weight on his shoulders. “So much is changing through teenage years; it can feel like your world is spinning. It’s hard enough to deal with your own emotions. You kind of need your family [and] home to be your one constant,” says Fiennes Tiffin. The 23-year-old reveals how the story resonates personally for him as his “parents were [financially] hit through the 2008 recession.” He continues: “Obviously, there are a lot worse problems to deal with; no one in the film – or my life – was ever starving or couldn’t clothe themselves, but I feel like people are going to relate to the nature of growing up in that era and having parents who did struggle through that period of time.”