EMRHYS COOPER
“I always knew I wanted to act, it was always within me.”
Whilst strolling for a walk down the Thames in Hammersmith, London, British actor, Emryhs Cooper opened up about his current projects and his aspirations for the future with Film and TV Now.
The performer from Totnes, Devon has starred in a variety of international films and TV series and he will next be seen in new Sci-Fi fantasy Altered Perception, which is set to hit the big screen in 2015. Cooper stars as the lead role Steve, a successful British TV producer living in LA with his beautiful young wife Kristina (Jade Tailor). She is experiencing severe paranoia and believes Steve is cheating on her. They are using this drug to save their marriage, however it’s a bumpy ride for the couple, with Steve hiding more than he’s letting on…
“The film is about a mind altering drug which basically is given to patients to get rid of false perceptions, for example, if someone is feeling paranoid or with feelings that aren’t necessarily real, this drug will get rid of them. My character turns to this drug as a last ditch attempt for his wife and it goes horribly wrong. As things transpire, you can see the theme is very current right now. The very scary thing is this drug could actually exist and pharmaceutical companies in America are creating new synthetic drugs all the time and I think that is why the film is actually quite scary in a way.”
ALTERED PERCEPTION addresses many issues such as cheating and other familiar themes which run throughout the plot and this was part of the appeal for the British actor. “I am playing a character that is very complex with a lot of secrets and on paper he is one thing and in reality, he’s another so there are so many things for me to play about with because there are so many twists and turns to it and my role is very traumatic. In the scenes my onscreen wife, Jade Taylor and I, had to get very physical and we go to some very dark, scary places and that as an actor is very rewarding and challenging; you get to access your demons and act them out – but that won’t happen in my real life!”
The film was shot over four weeks in LA and the 29-year-old fondly reflects about his time on set. Despite the jam-packed shooting schedule and gritty theme to the movie, for him, it was nothing other than a rewarding experience: “The director was fantastic. She is an English director, Kate Rees Davies and it was great working with her for this film. I had a really good stunt co-ordinator to help me do my own stunts and it was just a really fun shoot, despite the fact that a lot of stuff we were doing was horrible, but everyone else made it really pleasant.”
With his list of acting credentials growing, each passing year in the industry is a bonus for Cooper who is relishing the opportunity to play a diverse range of characters. “As I am getting older, the roles are getting better. When you’re younger, and at a certain age, the roles aren’t always as necessarily deep or as complex. The older I get, the more interesting the roles are and with this character, there is a side of me that I can relate to and hopefully there is a side that I can’t! I don’t want to give too much information away about the character, but he’s definitely not the best of guys. You wouldn’t want to take him home to your Mum, put it that way!”
ALTERED PERCEPTION is not scheduled for worldwide release until early in 2015 and will be available to watch on VOD afterwards, but already the film is generating a lot of attention. “I’m really excited about it. There’s been quite a buzz in the States around the movie – I think largely because of the subject matter, which is so interesting and not many films have been done about it.”
The art of performing has been in his blood from a young age, largely due to the exposure of it through his parents. Having embraced his passion since childhood, it’s clear that acting was something the man from Totnes, Devon was always meant to do. “My parents were involved in acting. My father was a very keen amateur Shakespearean actor, so I use to watch him from a young age and my mother was involved with dance. My sister was going to dance classes and I had way too much energy as a kid, so I asked if I could join in. At the age of five I also became involved in dancing and was the only boy, so I got all of the attention – I loved it! Then I started dancing very seriously and began competing. I got a scholarship at the Central School of Ballet when I was 16-years-old and did two years there, then I went to Laine Theatre Arts, which is a musical theatre college and graduated from there at the age of nineteen. After I went on tour in Fame The Musical and did five years of musical theatre and dancing for different pop artists, but I was never really satisfied. I always knew I wanted to act, it was always within me.”
Acknowledging the fact that he needed to pursue his ultimate dream, Cooper took the big step across the pond to Los Angeles at 23-years-old, which turned out to be one of the best steps he made towards affirming his career as an actor. “I went there on a whim. I bought a one way ticket and had no money or contacts and thanks to Richard Branson’s credit card I went off and I made it happen.”
A background in theatre work has proven to be a solid basis as a catapult for his career and even though the actor is garnering a lot of attention in the world of film and TV, theatre is still a performing medium which he will ultimately return to. “Definitely. There’s nothing better than being on stage. It’s like a drug because you become so addicted towards being on stage in front of an audience. It’s all in your hands rather than the producer or editor in a film. What you do that night is up to you and that is an amazing feeling.”
He continues, “I will be back on stage next year at some point and hopefully in New York because I would love to do broadway. My schedule is so busy at the moment, so it’s a case of finding when would be a good opportunity. After all the films and TV stuff all come out, I would definitely like to return to the stage again. You have to have a huge amount of stamina and turn it on every night. I’m the sort of person who will never give just half, you have to give 150%. You have to be professional, turn up on time and you can just tell when someone has done a lot of theatre because they are just so professional. They treat it like a job and really appreciate and love the art behind it.”
Cooper has been living in LA for the last six years where he spends the majority of his time, but his commitments this year have seen him travel to Thailand and New York for a few months. With a growing list of in-demand British actors doing well in Hollywood, such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston to name but a few, he is not surprised by their international demand:
“There’s always been big respect in the States for British actors. I think we have a different kind of energy, but I honestly think that just because you’re English that doesn’t necessary give you a leg-up, as 90% of the time when I was auditioning for an American role I had to go in the room as an American and fake it. Even when you are still talking, you are pretending to be an American. Look at Hugh Laurie for example, they didn’t want a Brit for his role in HOUSE, so he went in as an American and it wasn’t until they started doing the contracts that they realised he was in fact British! I think Brits are doing well, but they deserve to as well.”
Making the transition from stage to camera was not an easy move and it something which the former stage star has had to get use to. “I had to learn how to use the camera and being largely from a musical theatre background, sometimes you had to really over perform for the audience and I had to learn to trust my gut and be authentic, but when you are acting on screen, you just have to be as honest as possible. I think over the last couple of years, my confidence has grown and I am growing as a person and as an actor.”
Cooper has an avid appreciation for film and shared his thoughts on the movies that have caught his attention lately.
“I saw MR TURNER, Mike Leigh is the director and I would die to work with him. I loved his film. Timothy Spall deserves to be nominated for an award and I think it is great to see a British actor in that kind of role and it’s so inspiring to me also because I love William Turner as an artist. I also loved THE IMITATION GAME with Benedict Cumberbatch. I thought his performance was nuanced and deep. I couldn’t understand his thought process, which really interested me, I was like, “What is he thinking?” Benedict Cumberbatch is in a league of his own and he inspires me greatly.”
With TV appearances coming up and three films out next year, it looks like the future is set to be very bright and very busy for Emrhys Cooper.
“I am developing a six part mini-series with my production company called TROPHY BOYS and I will be playing one of the roles, which we will hopefully begin shooting next year. It’s a great concept and I am really looking forward to producing as well as acting. I like to keep developing my creative journey and keep challenging myself with new opportunities.”
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