Max Parker is taking us to boot camp
Sir Ian McKellen must have been right about Max Parker. After he was accepted into drama school, Parker sent the legendary thespian — and fellow Mancunian — a letter. Three months later, he not only received a reply filled with well-wishes, but £200 for supplies. “He’s just an absolute idol of mine, he seems like the loveliest and sweetest man,” Parker says, a blush almost visible through the screen, before breaking out into a grin: “I’m a big nerd, and Gandalf is the G.”
The wandering wizard is not the only star whose path Parker has crossed on his rise to The Big Time. In 2014, he joined Cynthia Erivo, fresh from a little production called The Colour Purple, in I Can’t Sing! The X Factor Musical, which is about as surreal as it sounds. He also once bumped into Tracy Beaker in Tesco. Across a decade in the industry, he has feigned a heroin overdose in Casualty, been staked through the heart as a bloodsucking villain in Vampire Academy and quelled a robot rebellion with a harpoon gun in Doctor Who (“I went to circus school, don’t you know?” he says of his remarkably wide box of tricks).
But this year, his star has finally risen. After tying the knot with fellow actor Kris Mochrie, he is about to take on a lead role in Netflix’s Boots, a coming-of-age drama about a gay teenager trying to make it through military training in the ’90s. As Drill Sergeant Sullivan, he plays the ultimate Marine, whose obsessive attention to detail and heavily redacted career in reconnaissance hides a kitbag of secrets. “I did put a lot of stuff from my own personal life into this thing,” Parker says when I ask him about preparing for the part — which, incidentally, also required a military boot camp in the sweltering heat of New Orleans.
“He’s searching for something,” the actor explains. “He’s lost, but he’s also got this anger that he’s getting out into the world in ways that he doesn’t necessarily mean to. He’s just trying to be what people expect him to be, which is why the more scripts that I got sent, it was pretty obvious that I was perfect to do it.” Parker pauses, a self- effacing smile crossing his face. “Does that sound bigheaded? That’s not what I meant!” It doesn’t. In fact, the contrast between the somewhat shy jumper-clad actor talking to me and the Terminator Sergeant Sullivan is a testament to Parker’s skill as an actor.
As for Ian McKellen? The pair bumped into each other at an awards ceremony where McKellen read out Parker’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor. “I remember being very shy to go up to him, but I was like, No, this is a cool story, so I cornered him in the crowd and told him [about the letter]. He was like, Oh, are you doing well? I told him he’d just read out my name. Hopefully, I’ll get a longer conversation with him at some point.” The way Parker’s career is going, it seems more than likely.
Ben Jureidini: So much of Boots is about camaraderie. What was the atmosphere like on set?
Max Parker: We had a couple of weeks of training, so we were all thrown in the deep end with the military advisors, doing drills and working out and getting to know each other. Everyone was in the same boat — everyone was taken aback by the heat, no one knew where to go out for dinner, so we’d all beon a group chat, making a home away from home. Then it was the actor strikes and the writer strikes, so we had nine months off in between. [Parker’s co-stars] started as boys and came back as men. I’m supposed to be a drill sergeant to these recruits, and I’m like, Okay, you’re bigger and wider than me now, so I need to work on that.
BJ: How did boot camp go for you?
MP: It was a baptism of fire for me. I don’t come from a military background, so I didn’t really know what the hell was going on. I think it helped in [learning to be] a drill instructor, knowing exactly the things that would get to a lot of the recruits when you’re screaming in their faces. I think I permanently damaged my voice from screaming. I used to sing back in the day, so I have a few tricks to bring the voice back, but it was relentless.
BJ: What does get to them?
MP: Proximity. The fact that you can get so close to someone and intimidate them so much, but you never harm them. You never touch them. Especially nowadays, not a lot of people are used to the psychological warfare that you get put through. Obviously, it’s all training and it’s all for a good cause, but I can’t imagine myself being a recruit and not being like, Get the fuck away from me.
BJ: What was the hardest part about preparing for the role?
MP: Not being a pig at the catering. They provide such amazing food in New Orleans, and you are on a strict diet, but just seeing the amount of steaks… And they love sprouts in America. They make them so delicious, I would just have a bowl of sprouts, fried and covered in bacon.
BJ: Is there anything you hope audiences take away from the show?
MP: This show is a real coming-of-age story. It doesn’t necessarily have an agenda, even though the topics are so important. The thing you get from it is nostalgia — it’s like The Goonies — but also the importance of acceptance. There are so many different walks of life in the military; it’s a jigsaw of every single person’s story and journey. They were never supposed to be together, and probably wouldn’t in the real world. But, during the course of the show, you get to see how important it is to make sure that your life isn’t vanilla. You have to have all these different notes in it to make you the best version of yourself.
BJ: What makes you most nostalgic about the ’90s?
MP: I’m only thirty-three! So, the ’90s basically remind me of being a kid: school dinners, cake and custard, adidas popper pants. And the music, walking around with your Walkman and the Spice Girls and Now That’s What I Call Music 12.
BJ: You’ve described your Doctor Who character, Manny, as ‘a stubborn hero who loves a vest’. Is that at all similar to you?
MP: We all love a vest. Manny is this typically cool character — he gets his guns out, kills robots with lasers… The stubbornness is very like me. I’m quite one-track minded when it comes to something I believe that I’m right about. But I think Manny doesn’t necessarily switch off and have fun. [In a Californian twang] I’m super fun.
BJ: What’s it like shooting a robot with a harpoon gun?
MP: I swung down from the ceiling, abseiled in, had a harpoon gun and shot a robot. These were not CGI robots. These were men in eight-foot costumes that quite often fell over, and their faces would fall off.
BJ: How did you learn to abseil?
MP: I went to circus school, don’t you know? We learned how to swing down silks and crack whips. I think it helped with the military stuff, because we’d climb up ropes and you’d see these huge, muscly guys struggling, then I’d find it really easy because I got taught these techniques from circus school.
BJ: Do you use any of those techniques in your day-to-day life?
MP: Only on the dance floor.
BJ: How many death scenes have you filmed?
MP: A lot. Either I’m really bad and people want to kill me, or I’m really good at dying. I think I’ve died at least three times. When I was in Casualty, I died of a heroin overdose. I was in it for about eight months and made really good friends with Michael Stevenson, who played Ian. We had a leaving party the night before to say bye, which was nice. The next day, I don’t think anyone told him not to do the compressions properly, so I was on the floor, genuinely trying not to throw up. He was giving me mouth-to-mouth, but fully sticking his tongue down my throat as a joke. It’s a humble death.
BJ: You’ve ticked off vampire, drill sergeant and robot-killing action hero. Is there a dream role you’d like to play in the future?
MP: I’ve always wanted to play a horrible serial killer psycho. I think that kind of role is a gold mine. But just pure fun? I’d love to be an X-Men or superhero, just to see what power you’d get. Like a male version of Storm, flying around, rolling your eyes back in your head, shooting lightning out of your hands. I’m ginger, so I burn, so I’d probably just have a constant cloud over me.
BJ: What’s something about you that would surprise people?
MP: I was in a show once with Cynthia Erivo, I Can’t Sing!, about The X Factor. It was written by Harry Hill, and Simon Cowell was one of the producers on it. I played a character based on Jedward, and I was in sparkly green hotpants for most of the show. I remember thinking, This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but one of the best. It’s crazy now, the journey that Cynthia has been on. And at one point, a fly flew into her mouth and choked her, so she didn’t get through on X Factor. That’s so weird. Maybe I’ll see her on the red carpet.
Watch Boots on Netflix from 9 October 2025.
- PhotographerMatt Moorhouse
- StylistLewis Stratton
- WriterBen Jureidini
- Styling ConsultantKyle Lawson
- GroomerBrady Lea at A-Frame Agency using HAIR BY SAM MCKNIGHT
- Photographer's AssistantIsabella Armora
- Digital TechnicianIgor Hill
- Fashion AssistantsAlexandria Ng , Louie Sahota Singh
- RetouchingLex O’Neill
