One of the more standout performances this Emmy season comes from the acting nominees in Netflix’s limited series Adolescence which follows a 13-year old Northern UK boy who is accused of murdering a fellow female student.
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Whether he did it or not isn’t the approach of the Plan B produced, Stephen Graham and Jack Thorn created show, rather it delves into how an earnest student from a respectable working-class family comes to embrace such evils. It unfortunately always goes back to the parents, however, the accused, Jamie Miller (Limited-Anthology Series Supporting Actor nominee Owen Cooper), isn’t living with parents who are acerbic (played by the category’s Emmy nominated lead actor Graham, and supporting actress nominee Christine Tremarco). But Jamie has a bitterly fierce side which he unveils to the trial’s therapist (Limited-Anthology series Emmy nominated supporting actress Erin Doherty), one which isn’t immediately observed by the detective who is looking to balance most scales in the investigation (Limited series or anthology supporting actor nominee Ashley Walters).
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Upping the stakes here in the drama is the challenge that the entire series was filmed in one shot. How did casting director Shaheen Baig assemble such an acting troupe that could put Adolescence over the top? In particular, where did she find Cooper as well as other young cast members who had never acted before on screen. We speak with Baig today on a special Crew Call Live about the net she casted, her emergence in the casting trade under casting director mentors Debbie McWilliams (of the 007 films) and Patsy Pollock (The Hours, Billy Elliot), as well as lifelong career lessons learned.
How did Cooper win the part and beat out hundreds?
Says Baig, “He just listened. He really, really listened. He listened to Stephen. He kind of leant into what Stephen was doing, and he concentrated, and he made it feel very instinctive.”
“Also, he looked very young and very sort of sweet. He had clarity. He had a sort of openness that felt very natural. And so combining all of those things, plus his ability to just keep going, felt very rare in that first episode.”
For the first time in her near 30-year career as a casting director, Baig landed her first Emmy nomination that being in the outstanding limited series-anthology or movie casting category. Her previous credits include the series Black Mirror, the recent Benedict Cumberbatch Sundance movie The Thing With Feathers, the Harris Dickinson directed Cannes movie Urchin, the Peaky Blinders series and upcoming movie, and the Ronan Day-Lewis directed feature Anemone starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
