SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Adolescence,” now streaming on Netflix.
The third episode of Netflix’s four-part limited series “Adolescence” centers around two people, Jamie (Owen Cooper) and Briony (Erin Doherty). The former is accused of murder, and the latter is the clinical psychologist tasked with completing a pre-trial assessment.
However, Jamie is no ordinary person — he’s a 13-year-old schoolboy. And “Adolescence” is no ordinary show. Director Philip Barantini shot every episode as a one-take. For an entire episode, audiences watch the duo go back and forth as she tries to understand what happened. Friendly banter quickly shifts tonally as Jamie’s childlike innocence gives way to anger.
The episode required 11 takes before Barantini got what he needed.
Doherty says Cooper — who makes his acting debut in the series — impressed her. “To think about that kid versus the one that turned up in that 11th take, and push those buttons and push himself — I’m so proud.” Doherty said. She is currently in London appearing on stage in “Unicorn,” speaking with Variety over Zoom before her evening performance. She admits there was one moment when Cooper was so convincingly good with his nuances that she found it “genuinely scary.”
Read the conversation below.
What is it like to see this show take off the way it has, and your episode in particular?
It’s everything that you hope for. I can’t express it any purer than that. You can’t bank on anything in this industry, and for whatever reason, some things hit and some don’t. So when something does take off, part of you is so grateful, but at the same time, in the back of your mind, you just need to be in the moment and appreciate what’s happening. There’s no secret formula. The only thing I can put it down to is the fact that this story and subject matter is so vital. It reignites my hope and faith in humanity that we’re all going to talk about this. That, for me, is the only piercing message of this whole thing. People want to hear this. They want to have this conversation, which I’m so proud to be a part of.
You were still working on the drama series ‘A Thousand Blows’ with Stephen when he first told you about this project. What did he say about it?
It was just me and Stephen on set that day. We were doing our scenes. I asked what was going on and what he was working on next because we were about to wrap. He said, “Oh my God, I’ve got to talk to you about this idea that I’ve had.” He hadn’t even started writing it yet, so it was literally at the inception of this thing. But he said, “I’ve got Jack Thorne on board, Phil Barantini, and it’s going to be a one-shot thing.” I’d seen “Boiling Point,” and thought “That’s gonna be mega.” That was the kernel that ignited this whole thing. But nothing was passed between us to make me believe that I was going to be a part of it. He was just talking to me and was passionate about this thing coming to fruition. A couple of months later, I got a voice note from him because he knew that I wouldn’t pick up my phone. But he told me I needed to pick up my phone, and it went from there.
You’re currently on stage in ‘Unicorn.’ In theater, if you make a mistake you carry on. How does that compare to the experience of shooting ‘Adolescence’?
It was really daunting. Even having the experience and love of theater, there is something very different about what is being asked of an actor to do on screen. It’s the intensity of knowing that the audience is going to see everything. There’s no hiding, and that is intimidating, but once you’ve leaned into it, and once I got into that rehearsal room with Owen – that was predominantly where my nerves were resonating from. Before I met him, I was like “How the hell are we going to pull this off, it’s just the two of us in this room.” But I met him, and on day one, I was like, “God, this dude’s a professional.” It’s like he’d been doing it for 50 years. He rocked up, and he knew his lines. It was one of the best acting experiences I could have asked for.
I spoke with cinematographer Matthew Lewis and he said the show was a two-week rehearsal process. What did you learn about Owen and yourself in this process?
Those two weeks were entirely about instinct. What I hope to and will strive to cling to is this necessity to put your headspace to one side. You’ve got to operate from the heart and your instincts. That’s what that rehearsal process was. It was getting every single creative mind, whether that’s the boom operator, me, Owen, or Matt, the brilliant cameraman. We were all working as one. That was what those two weeks before were about: bringing us together and becoming a team.
I read that you spoke to your therapist before taking on this character. What was important for you to take away from those conversations with her?
I’ve always found therapy fascinating from before I’d even begun my journey of sitting in that chair and doing the work. Having been through it, you mourn the days of going in and sitting. There’s something so beautiful about sitting down and getting it all out.
I was so passionate about representing those people in the best, most human way. There’s this weird trope of “I am a therapist and I am this guarded armored person.” They can be that way, but they can also be transformative, and I wanted to bring that to it. There’s no two ways about this. I had to get in contact with my old therapist because she was brilliant and completely changed my life. I want to bring that heart to it, but also just know where your head is at any given moment. I don’t understand how they get through one session, let alone however many people they see in 24 hours.
I was so emotionally and physically drained at the end of the shooting days — I don’t know how they do it. For me, sitting down with my therapist, was about getting into that frame of mind and understanding the journey of what it means to go through a session, and having to be your own filter, in that sense, and check yourself and say, “OK, is there any transference, or countertransference going on?” You’re constantly having to refresh. I just needed to pick her brain about that. That was really formative.
When Briony first walks into the room, where is her headspace at that point?
I said to myself, “You’ve got to step into that room with this little morsel of hope. Everything in her had to be willing him to say something that would wipe the slate clean.” I genuinely wanted you to feel this bond. The minute I met Owen, you couldn’t not love this boy; he’s such a gorgeous soul. He played that character with such skill because you genuinely did feel for him. As Briony, that’s got to be part of the essence of this dynamic; you can’t help but root for him. When she enters the room, she is willing him to be the good guy, and that’s what you see: the breakdown of that.
What did you and Phil talk about in terms of those power dynamics?
That’s what we were digging into in those two weeks. We were picking out the specific moments that you needed to bring to the forefront. It could be an eye movement or a flicker of something across the face. It was so refreshing because Phil trusted us to go. He gave us a safe space to play. But apart from that, he wanted this to be organic and genuine. And there’s something magic in that. He has the faith and trust in his actors to let them live and breathe this thing and whatever happens in the moment, he’s going to capture that. Like the yawn that Owen does. He had never done that before, and that was a complete curveball for me, but that’s the level that we got to where the improv was so raw.
How did things evolve over the 11 takes. You just mentioned the yawn, but is there anything else?
By the time it came to shooting — because we’d been on this thing for two weeks and worked with Jack for a couple of days on getting the language specific to us — we were so deeply ingrained in these people that we hit this sweet spot when it came to shooting that we weren’t even thinking about it anymore. It was this organic evolution of these two people. Every take added to the nuances and the richness of this relationship.
What were you feeling as he was being taken out of the room at the end?
That was the easiest part of the episode to film for me because I am quite an outwardly expressive, heart-on-my-sleeve type of being. Getting through the hour and keeping a lid on these things was the task for me. Whereas the minute that Owen left, I was like, “Thank God.” I got to breathe.
I don’t think Briony fully understood what she was in the room with until he left, because she had to keep that professional guard up. She knew what she was there for and what line she had to tread. It’s not until he leaves that these moments hit her in the face and she’s able to really digest what has just happened. It is quite frightening, and that was all it was. It was like an emotional vomit.
What was it like watching your scene partner go from childlike innocence to anger?
It 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. 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. You both created this other place, and we were lucky enough to get there together. I’m so proud of Owen because I got to see him push himself as an actor, to really go there. Back then, he was this kid and he didn’t want to be this scary thing, especially with someone he just met. So we really had to work on creating this safe space to let him know that he’s going to be fine. To think about that kid versus the one that turned up in that 11th take, and push those buttons and pushed himself, I’m just so proud.
At the end of the take, how do you let go of Briony and this intense moment?
People always talk about getting into character and the different ways that you find things, but no one really talks about getting out of character. You don’t get taught that. It’s an odd one. They leave you in whatever way is necessary. But for me, every night that I’d come out of her, I’d be completely wiped. You’ve got the physical and emotional exhaustion of getting through something so intensely focused, but underneath that, you’ve got the current of knowing that you’re a part of this vital story. That’s how I got out of it — with the pride of being a part of something so vital that I tuned into that, and Briony slowly slipped away. Slowly but surely as the lines left my head, she did too. I actually think they never fully leave you until you’ve jumped onto another project and you have to abandon ship.
Are people coming up to you at the ‘Unicorn’ stage door talking about the show?
The people on this job, the backstage crew and everyone come to me and say, “Oh my God!” I’m chatting to people, and they’re like, “I just watched episode two.” It’s an odd one to chat about while your head is also in something else, but it’s so lovely to talk to other creative minds about something like that, and to digest it with them. It’s so lovely that it’s reaching and having a ripple effect through society.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.