Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty Discuss Filming Tense Moments in Netflix’s Adolescence
Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty sat down with us to discuss their experience in filming the Netflix series Adolescence and their collaboration together as actors. Owen stepped into the role of Jamie and found the rehearsal process for the series really allowed him to get to know the character. The actors had a full week rehearsing their episode together, followed by a week of rehearsing alongside the crew and then a week to film in the now lauded style of a singular camera take. Both of them noted how much they enjoyed this particular process and found that everyone came to the table with a lot of excitement together.
For Owen, in playing Jamie he filmed episode 3 alongside Erin as his first episode, and first on screen acting ever. He was able to use the rehearsal process to hone in on Jamie’s darker side when he becomes more aggressive towards Erin’s character Briony. Erin discussed what it was like for Briony to see this other side of Jamie and for the idea of the boy she had been in the room with as a psychiatrist to sink in.
In filming the final sequence at the end of the episode, they both found a lot of real emotion with one and other since their characters know they won’t see each other again as this is their final meeting. Because they had filmed enough takes that landed the one shot take successfully, in the last couple of takes they allowed themselves to still try new things and as a result found even deeper emotions in their performances.
Erin rightfully noted that Owen’s role wasn’t an easy one and that he should be incredibly proud of the work he accomplished and the performance he was able to bring throughout the series.
Watch the full conversation below:
Q&A on the Netflix series Adolescence with actors Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.
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