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Adolescence star Owen Cooper, 15, reveals which iconic role he wants to play next and admits fearing pals would ‘take the mick’

Adolescence star Owen Cooper, 15, reveals which iconic role he wants to play next and admits fearing pals would ‘take the mick’

Adolescence star Owen Cooper has revealed which iconic role he wants to play next after the Netflix series made the 15-year-old famous overnight.

The drama centres on schoolboy Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is accused of murdering a girl, and is the brainchild of actor Stephen Graham, who also plays the boy’s father. 

In a new interview Owen admitted seeing Tom Holland, 28, in disaster drama The Impossible, based on the events of the 2004 Thailand Tsunami, which made him want to be an actor and now dreams of replacing his idol as Spiderman in the Marvel Universe.

In Adolescence the young star’s perfomance has gained plaudits and calls for  a BAFTA nomination, but Owen admitted being left surprised after receiving equally  supportive messages from his mates back home in Warrington. 

‘I didn’t think they would, to be honest, I thought they’d take the mick. But yeah… they’ve been really, really good about it.’ 

He also spoke about playing the younger version Hollywood star Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliffe in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering heights, which also stars Margot Robbie.

Adolescence star Owen Cooper has revealed which iconic role he wants to play next after the Netflix series made the 15-year-old famous overnight

Adolescence star Owen Cooper has revealed which iconic role he wants to play next after the Netflix series made the 15-year-old famous overnight

The drama centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of actor Stephen Graham, who also plays the boy's father

The drama centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of actor Stephen Graham, who also plays the boy’s father

Owen admitted dreaming of replacing his idol Tom Holland (pictured) as Spiderman in the Marvel Universe

Owen admitted dreaming of replacing his idol Tom Holland (pictured) as Spiderman in the Marvel Universe

‘[He is] such a nice guy, my family can say the same as well’ however he couldn’t say much more about the top secret film, but teased it was ‘fun’.  

Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen, 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was so impressed at the young British actor’s first audition, that he’s since revealed he turned to co-writer Jack Thorne when Owen left the room and said ‘I think that’s him’.

And Owen recently opened up about how Stephen has supported his career amid filming. The seasoned actor recommended his agent to the teen star, who came to watch a bit of episode one.

‘I got Wuthering Heights from that!’ Owen revealed in Variety. ‘But it’s been going really well. I’ve really enjoyed it. Obviously it not one-sH๏τ anymore! So I’m getting used to that. But it’s been amazing. Emerald’s lovely.’

Owen also told the outlet how Stephen was ‘always checking in on him’ during emotionally gruelling scenes – with a psychologist on set.

Elsewhere, Stephen has branded the discovery of Owen, Adolescence’s ‘biggest achievement’.

‘We always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities,’ he told The Independent.

‘From the very beginning it was a conscious decision [by the team] that we wanted someone who didn’t have much experience. Like we did find little Tommo [This is England star Thomas Thurgoose] all those years ago.

In Adolescence the young star's perfomance has gained plaudits but he admitted being left surprised after receiving equally supportive messages from his mates back home

In Adolescence the young star’s perfomance has gained plaudits but he admitted being left surprised after receiving equally supportive messages from his mates back home

He also spoke about playing the younger version Hollywood star Jacob Elordi's Heathcliffe in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering heights, which also stars Margot Robbie

He also spoke about playing the younger version Hollywood star Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliffe in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering heights, which also stars Margot Robbie 

‘We wanted someone who didn’t have a lot of experience, but we knew that what we were doing and what we were trying to ask this young person to do was cosmic in many ways. 

‘It’s a huge undertaking, but we cast Owen, who had no experience, he’d done a couple of little theatre workshops, and he was just starting to do little bits in school.’

Read More ‘Take a bow, Owen Cooper’: Netflix fans calling for Adolescence star to be nominated for a BAFTA just hours after series dubbed the ‘best since Baby Reindeer’ hit screens article image

 Stephen said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK. 

Joining his wife Hannah Walters in chatting to Chris Moyles on Radio X, the actor said: ‘Okay, let’s get this serious nature of the show out the way, and then we can have some fun, with all due respect. 

‘Look, it started when I read an article, and it was an article about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and it just, you know, it made me feel cold. 

‘And then a couple of months later, there was a piece on the news, and it was about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart. 

‘And these two incidents were opposite ends of the country. And I just thought, “Why? Why is this happening?” 

‘Not just because I’m a father, but I think any kind of human being with an ounce of moral compᴀss can look at that kind of situation and think, “What’s happening? What’s going on with society today that we’re in?”‘ 

Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen (pictured, right, with Stephen), 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was impressed at the young British actor's first audition

Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen (pictured, right, with Stephen), 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was impressed at the young British actor’s first audition

Stephen added that the spate of stabbings was a sharp contrast to the world he grew up in.

‘We’re entering this kind of era where there was, like, four, five, six, seven cases of young boys – and I’m going to call them young boys, they’re not men – stabbing girls to death,’ he said.

‘And, you know, that beautiful saying, “It takes a takes a village to raise a child”, I just wanted to create something that kind of looked at it from that perspective, but also looked at it like, look, maybe we are all slightly accountable in some way, be that parents, be that school, be that government, community, society. 

‘And now, let’s be completely honest, when I was a kid, when we were kids, we didn’t have these kind of things. But today, the internet is as much of a teacher and a parent to our children as we can be. Do you know what I mean? And that was kind of where it came from.’

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