‘He scruffed me up’: The savage words Adolescence star used to get Owen Cooper in character

We all knew that Stephen Graham had the goods, but little did we know that Netflix’s Adolescence would introduce us to the brilliant talent that is Owen Cooper.

After watching Adolesence, you wouldn’t think that Owen Cooper was a first-time actor because his performance was nothing short of iconic. He somehow managed to bring a depth to Jamie that actors spend years grafting, and despite his little to no experience, reviews largely center around his acting chops. His fellow cast members are just as starstruck as well, with just about every actor from Adolescence singing his praises.

But even for someone as naturally talented as Owen, there are difficulties to overcome and hurdles to jump over. In a recent interview, he detailed how co-star Stephen Graham helped him step into the role with the most savage seven words you’ll hear this week.

Adolescence’s Stephen Graham used this sentence to help Owen Cooper

Episode one of Adolescence kicks off with a bang as the police storm Jamie’s house following his murder of classmate Katie. It sets the tempo for the rest of the show, something which is greatly aided by the one-take approach. Soon enough, Jamie and his dad Eddie – played by Stephen Graham – are in the police station being interviewed.

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At this point, we’re still somewhat on Jamie’s side as the details of the case are yet to be exposed, so Owen Cooper needed to convey a sense of innocence that you’d expect from a young boy sat across from two police officers. He somewhat struggled to get into that frame of mind – potentially because the first episode wasn’t the first one shot – so Stephen stepped in with a brutal sentence that snapped him into the role.

“Obviously Stephen was always checking in on me,” Owen recently told Variety.

Owen admitted to getting “frustrated” over the scene because he couldn’t get “emotional” in the way that director Philip Barantini wanted.

“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,” he said.

The blunt statement paid off in the end, as Owen explained: “But after that point, I was emotional in every take. So that helped me a lot. He was amazing to work with.”

Owen wasn’t the only cast member to have a genuinely jarring experience on set, with Erin Doherty telling the publication that watching Owen go from “childlike innocence to anger” was “genuinely scary.”

“It’s every actor’s dream to get to a place where you forget yourself, and you are in this strange reality that you’ve created,” she added. “It sounds bizarre, but you genuinely do believe it in the moment. If the person opposite you is doing their job and you’re doing yours.”

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Featured image by: Netflix