‘Because you just can’t make it up, can you, how weird life is. And I know that me and my friends, we don’t sit around crying too much. I don’t mean that in a blokey way, like I’m too much of a man for that. Maybe it’s being Northern: you choose to laugh rather than cry. I guess that’s often what I try and bring to my work. To me, that’s humanness. Walking that line.’

I can’t help but wonder how he came to be this way. Little is known about his childhood, except that he was raised by a single mother in Sunderland and didn’t show an aptitude for theatre until relatively late.

‘Yeah,’ he tells me, stroking his chin thoughtfully. ‘I had a really great teacher, Mrs Steinenberg, who told me about an audition happening. I’ve never asked her why she pushed for me to go – it was right as we were leaving school and then the audition became my first gig, moving to London, and, bam, here we are all these years later.’ He shakes his head fondly. ‘Do you ever get freaked out by how fast life can move? Like, wasn’t I just a kid? It’s mad.’

Life must feel fast when you pack in as much time on set as Carlisle does. Last year alone he featured in four major movies and his guest spot on Mrs Maisel. ‘Ah, yes,’ he says, in typical self-depreciating style. ‘But that was only three episodes of the show, and two of the movies were supporting roles. But when Olivia Wilde asks you to play back-up to the great women-led stuff she’s been making, you make the time, you know? Same with Greta. When she called, my head exploded. I can’t tell you what an honour that felt like.’

The Greta he’s referring to is Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig, and his role in her newest movie is why we’re meeting today …

Evie pulls herself away from the article. Focus, she reminds herself. Just get this first draft done! She has had to turn her phone off because she’s suddenly become Ms Popular, with people reaching out left, right and centre, from college friends of friends to her old high school English teacher and her editor to her cover designer. Photos of their fairground date have been published, with more rubbish about their ‘growing love’ for one another, with yet more fake sources from set. It’s too much. She just needs it to all blow over. This is exactly what she has spent her career trying to avoid! You can’t create good work when you’re distracted by noise! She hates it. Hates, hates, hates it. She opens a new browser and idly types in Duke Carlisle paddleboard.