Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old star of Netflix's hit drama Adolescence, has revealed the eight chilling words his co-star Stephen Graham used to rile him up before filming their one-take episodes. The young actor, who plays schoolboy Jamie Miller accused of killing a female classmate, said Graham's words left him 'emotional in every take'.
Speaking with Variety, Cooper explained how Graham, who plays his on-screen father Eddie Miller, helped him get into character. 'Obviously Stephen was always checking in on me,' Cooper said. 'But there was a time in episode one, when it was just us two, with no camera, in the police cell, and he scruffed me up and said “you’re never going to see your mum again, you’re never going to see your dad again,” and was going on and on.'
Cooper admitted he had been struggling to get emotional before that moment. 'Before then I’d been frustrated because I hadn’t been getting emotional. But after that point I was emotional in every take. So that helped me a lot.' The drama, written by Graham and Jack Thorne, explores toxic masculinity and has been praised for its one-shot format.
Adolescence is Cooper's first ever show, and he revealed he had no prior acting experience. 'Literally nothing,' he said. 'I only really wanted to start acting a couple of years ago. It’s not been long. I grew up wanting to be a footballer.' He landed the role after a self-tape request for the series.
Meanwhile, co-writer Jack Thorne has addressed the show's biggest unsolved mystery: the whereabouts of the knife used in the killing. Thorne told Deadline that the answer exists but was deliberately left out to maintain authenticity. 'I could have tried to fit it into dialogue in episode three, but that would have felt inauthentic and wrong,' he said, adding that the one-shot format challenges audience expectations.
