Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in Adolescence. Critics have highlighted their characters’ bond as one of the reasons for the show’s success. Photo / Netflix
Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in Adolescence. Critics have highlighted their characters’ bond as one of the reasons for the show’s success. Photo / Netflix
In an interview, the actors Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham explore the social and personal impact of the Netflix hit about a teenager accused of murder, including Cooper’s newfound schoolyard stardom.
In the three weeks since Adolescence arrived on Netflix, the drama about a 13-year-old boy accused of killing aschoolgirl after seeing misogynistic content online has soared in popularity. It has also made a star out of Owen Cooper for his portrayal of the teenager, Jamie Miller.
Even so, Cooper, 15, had to return to high school in northern England last Monday.
In a video interview last week, Cooper said his first day back was “a bit mad,” with lots of attention from younger children. Tuesday was better, he said, with only “a bit of bother”.
As Cooper discussed the complexity of his newfound fame, Stephen Graham, the actor who plays Jamie’s father and was also taking part in the interview, sat up, alert. “What kind of ‘bother’?” Graham said, sounding like a concerned parent.
Cooper explained that it wasn’t anything serious, just children coming up to him, shouting his name, then rushing off. To which Graham replied with relief and a smile. “Ah, just some silly bollocks.”
Critics have highlighted that sort of bond between the two actors’ characters as one of the reasons for the show’s success, although it has also drawn praise for stirring debate about whether children’s access to social media should be restricted or smartphones banned from schools.
In the interview, Cooper and Graham, who was also a creator of the series, discussed that political impact, Cooper’s star turn and the possibility of an Adolescence sequel – although Cooper is already involved in other projects, including having just wrapped up filming for Emerald Fennell’s new version of Wuthering Heights, in which he plays the young Heathcliff.
Q: Owen, your character is bullied via Instagram, and it’s implied he spends time watching misogynistic content on his smartphone. As you’re 15, how is your own smartphone use?
Cooper: I’ve never gone through that experience with my phone or with my mates, but Instagram has, I think, a 16 [age limit for immediately publicly viewable profiles] now. I’m on Instagram and I’m not 16, but I think the age restrictions should be followed. I don’t think 10- and 11-year-olds should be on Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat.
Q: How have you both felt about the political debate the show’s stirred?
Graham: Look, everything that’s happened from it is fantastic. It’s gathered its own momentum. But that’s not the reason I made it. A young girl was stabbed to death in Liverpool. That’s where the show began in my head. Then a young trans girl was lured into a park and she was stabbed to death.
It really hurt my heart as a father, and as a human being. And I thought, “Maybe this is something we could shine a light upon.” That’s the reason I wanted to be an actor in the first place: to make dramas that made me think.
Q: The team auditioned 500 boys for the role of Jamie. Stephen, can you remember Owen’s audition tape and what made him stand out?
Graham: Owen’s tape was really good. And when he walked in the room, he had a little something about him: not cocky, no kind of arrogance, just a presence. And we had a little read, and then were about to do an improvisation, and I just looked at him and said, “From now on I’m your dad and you are my son, OK?” And he looked me right in the eyes, and something happened from that moment.
We did this really lovely little improvisation. He got a little emotional. I got a little emotional. And he left the room, and I turned around and said to Phil [Barantini, the show’s director]: “That’s it. That kid was like Robert De Niro.”
Q: A lot of attention’s focused on the third episode, in which Jamie is interviewed by a psychologist (Erin Doherty) and tries to both charm and intimidate her. It’s an intense hour. How did you go about preparing for it?
Cooper: I wasn’t really comfortable with the script at first, but Stephen and Phil and all the cast, they made me feel like I was in a safe space. Before every take, I just thought, “I’m never, ever going to be able to do this again, so I’m just going to put my all into it.”
Graham: Owen is a million miles away from Jamie, a million miles away from him. And, with respect, it’s very difficult sometimes to be able to push yourself into places, to be able to find emotions and be angry at things you yourself would not ever be angry at. Yet you push as an actor, and I watched Owen do that. That’s why I think Episode 3 is a master class. The performance is so nuanced and so detailed and so intricate and so precise for such a young mind.
Q: I previously spoke with Doherty about it, and she said that you rehearsed the episode for two weeks before filming and became so drilled you weren’t derailed when one of you made a mistake. Can you remember any examples of things going wrong?
Cooper: Well, the biggest one is my yawn in the episode. It was a genuine yawn, and Erin just came back and said, “Am I boring you?” and I laughed. I don’t think Jamie would have laughed.
Graham: Don’t give your secrets away like that, lad! I know it’s you laughing, but it looks bleeding brilliant as the character.
Cooper in Episode 3 with Erin Doherty as the psychologist Briony Ariston. Photo / Netflix
Q: Each of the show’s episodes is filmed in a single uninterrupted shot lasting up to an hour. You’ve used that technique before, Stephen, in the chef movie Boiling Point. Why did you use it here?
Graham: Brad Pitt [one of the show’s executive producers] said, “I want to make a TV show the same as Boiling Point.” It was then about what we were going to make it about.
Q: Did you enjoy the single shots, Owen?
Cooper: Yeah, because I didn’t know any better than doing a ‘one shot’! So to do that was – I mean, I’d love to do a ‘one shot’ again. I’d do a ‘one shot’ for the rest of my life if I could. I hate repeating stuff.
Graham: But Owen, you never will again, lad. That’s it. These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, I promise you!
Cooper: No, it isn’t! No! [laughing]
Q: The show has been so popular. Will there be a sequel?
Graham: It’s a stand-alone thing, you know what I mean? I’m not saying there will be, but if there’s a possibility of a Series 2, we would follow something completely different.
