Dominic Cooper Discusses the Doubts He Faced When Cast in AMC's 'Preacher'
Dominic Cooper has made his steady rise through Agent Carter, The Devil's Double and now the upcoming Warcraft film adaptation. Next up is the leading role in AMC's Preacher, and from what we've seen so far it doesn't seem as though he's having much trouble adjusting.
Based on the cult classic comic book series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, the series follows Cooper as Jesse Custer, a West Texas preacher who acquires strange, godly powers when fused with a mysterious entity. A crazy journey begins when Jesse meets up with his ex-girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga) and an Irish Vagabond named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun).
The actor told of how he rehearsed by telling some kind of story from the night before that somehow landed him the gig. "The truth is, they offered it to me without them seeing anything. So the first day of rehearsals was one of the most terrifying days I’ve ever had as an actor. I said to myself, ‘Why did you ever do this? Why have you taken this on without at least forcing them to see what you thought you were gonna do to see if it was something that they wanted.’"
"‘They’re looking at me now and regretting every moment of this and there’s nothing they can do about it and maybe I should just say I’ll back out. You don’t have to do it. I’ll leave and you’ll be okay,'" were the kind of thoughts going through the actor's head.
" I really did have that moment. It takes time, you know? It’s very different from what I’ve done. He’s surrounded by very elaborate, colorful other roles and characters in it and for me it’s very hard to stay composed and dark and strong and silent and still. You want to suddenly be as big as them so that’s what’s been tough."
He describes the process of learning the character and getting under his skin as an enjoyable one, as opposed to film roles in the past. " I’m just totally at the beginning of discovering – even now watching [the pilot] again, having done three more since, I’m like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s quite different.’ I’ve already made choices that now are wrong for who that person is."
Source: Collider
