Ryan Cooper may have gotten the most exposure from his many modelling campaigns with everyone from DKNY to Hugo Boss, but he’s ready to step up to the acting scene with a new scripted series and a feature film. Fresh off his pivotal role as an exotic dancer in “Rough Night” alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoë Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, and Jillian Bell, Cooper sat down with us to talk about working on a small set when compared to a large one, what it’s like to act opposite hilarious comedians, and his role prep.
On preparing for his character in “Rough Night.”
“It was fun for me to get into an element of myself that was quite different from who I naturally am. It was also a challenge physically to put on 25 pounds.... I went and took hip-hop dancing lessons. I also watched a lot of male strippers on YouTube, so that was fun. It was kind of non-essential skill-set...but I had it in my back pocket in case it needed to be pulled out.”
On working with some of the funniest women in comedy.
“It was just like hanging out with wonderful, kind, beautiful, talented women. They are awesome. We talked about our pet peeves, the things we hate the most. We talked about weird sexual animal organs. We talked about families.... I think it was very, very normal.”
On being funny for “Rough Night” and dramatic for go90 scripted series “Confess.”
“It’s so wonderful to get both strokes going on. The pace of the smaller, premium online channels work, and the opportunity to be in a wide-release, feature movie is wonderful...with different perks to each job [as well]. I find the learning curve on ‘Confess’ was very fast, and there was a lot to be aware of; there’s a lot of collaboration in a different way on a smaller, quicker set like that where you have to look out for all the team members a bit more. On a bigger film set you have a whole mess of people doing lights and sound and things like that. There are big premieres and red carpets that are like, a mile long, and you get dressed up and feel very special for the studio stuff.”
On working with women creators.
“I’m going to continue to scout those wonderful, strong, female-influenced opportunities. I’ve just had the best time. Now is a fantastic time for women directors and writers in the industry, and frankly, we need that. We need the female perspective.”
Inspired? Check out Backstage’s film audition listings!