ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Cold Copy star Jacob Tremblay about the intense new thriller movie. The film is set to debut in select theaters and through video-on-demand platforms on Friday, January 26.
“Eager to impress the esteemed-yet-cutthroat news reporter Diane Heger (Tracee Ellis Ross), ambitious journalism student Mia Scott (Bel Powley) desperately competes for her attention,” reads the movie‘s synopsis. “With increasing pressure from Diane to outperform her peers, Mia finds a new angle for her latest story about an unsuspecting subject: precocious teen Igor Nowak (Jacob Tremblay). But her new approach involves manipulating his story — and the truth itself.”
Tyler Treese: I love how your character is introduced. There’s some real awkwardness between Igor in his initial conversations with Mia, and the viewer doesn’t know how to get a read on the character initially. It almost ties into one of the themes of the movie, which is that you project your own view on people and see what you want to see. How was it leaning into that mystery about Igor at first?
Jacob Tremblay: So, for this character, it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone because he’s very bold, right? He’s kind of a troublemaker. So it was kind of hard to put myself into that mindset. He does kind of flirt with Mia a little bit — more for fun, obviously. That was definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone a little bit, to develop it. He’s very mysterious — that’s kind of the reason I was so attracted to playing this role because I hadn’t played anything like that before. It really took a few scenes to develop that emotion inside.
I haven’t really seen you do something like this before, and while you’ve been acting for ten years, now, in films, you are still getting to show new sides of yourself. What was most rewarding about doing this different type of character and doing this drama here?
I think the most rewarding thing was just developing a part of my skill. It’s like a tree of being able to play different emotions, right? And this one branched off a certain way, so I was able to play into that. Now it’s a new skill I’ve learned, I guess, where … say there’s a character that comes up in the future who shares similar attributes to this one — I’d be able to tap in back into that a little bit, play with [and] take things from this role, change a little bit, see what I can do. I think that’s what I get out of it.
I was so impressed with Bel Powley in this movie, and you two share some really great scenes. What stood out about her as a scene partner? Most of your interactions are one-on-one, and you guys really played off each other well.
Yeah, she’s a great scene partner. I really enjoyed doing the scenes with her, because we had some really fun sequences, like the whole thing at the sugar factory. That was really cool because, surprisingly, we could just go in there and destroy all the sugar. That was really fun to film. A lot of the emotional scenes … I found it really easy to kind of dive into that with her, because she has very expressive eyes, so when you make eye contact with her in the scene, it really draws out your emotions.
Igor is an artist, and you’re obviously working within the arts. What did you find most interesting about portraying this character who has obviously gone through trauma and is expressing himself through the arts? What did you like most about that part of the character?
I thought it was really cool how, you know, he has a shell on his outside. He’s got a little toughness, but on the inside, obviously, he’s very soft and has a lot of heart and puts a lot of care into his art. I thought it was really cool. I’m not really too sure, but I think I remember actually drawing something that they put in his bedroom. Um, I’m interested in rewatching it and seeing if I can spot the drawing that I made. I think it was just of some dude’s face or something like that, so that was pretty cool, to pretend I’m Igor a little bit and draw something and see that in the scene. That helped me get into it.
Speaking of other arts ,do you have interest in other arts outside of acting?
That’s a good question. Not really. I guess I kind of put all my eggs in one basket, in that way. I think I tried drawing a little bit. I just took an art class in high school that was pretty fun [and] worked with a lot of like watercolor paints, which is kind of cool. Kind of tricky, though.
As the film goes on, we see Mia really overstep the line as a journalist and she’s really mining through your character’s grief and using your suffering for her benefit. What did you find most intriguing about that dynamic between the characters? They do seem to develop, not romantic feelings, but a connection between the two characters, then to see it misused for one’s benefit …
Yeah, I mean, it’s just a story of betrayal. Bel’s character backstabs my character and then Mia gets backstabbed once more. I think that the way it ties in and plays together is pretty strong, because I feel like my character is the only character in the story who’s totally innocent, if that makes sense. One of the things I like about the story is that no one’s perfect in it. There is no no necessarily good character, because even Igor — sure, he’s pretty innocent, but at the end of the day, he’s still up to no good.
I was really impressed by the director, Roxine Helberg. How was it working with her? I would’ve never guessed this was her first feature film while watching the movie.
She’s really great. One of the things that I loved about her is that she gave me a lot of space for my own creative ideas, but sometimes, she could be very, very specific. I liked that because it really gives me a direction for the scene. I can kind of get going right away. What I liked about her, too, is that she always had a very, very strong vision for the scenes and she always knew exactly what she wanted and exactly how she wanted the scene to look, which I thought was awesome.
One of your upcoming projects that I’m really excited about is the Toxic Avenger. That had such a good premiere at Fantastic Fest, and these old Troma films are just so fun to watch. What did you like most about working within that crazy world for that film?
That one was really fun. That was really cool to work on. What I love about that film is that they used a lot of practical effects, which was very cool to be on set and see that was a really fun, fun movie, though. That was one of the ones where you could just go on set and have a good time with everybody, because everyone was in a good mood on that set.
In the Pixar movie Luca, you did the voice of the main character. That’s getting a theatrical release in March since it came out during the pandemic. How cool is it that people are finally going to get to see that on the big screen?
That’s really exciting for me because I remember during the recording process, I was like, “Oh, I’ve got to go take my family to go see this movie. It’d be perfect.” And then COVID happened, but I’m glad it went on a streamer because it made it so that everyone could watch it and show it to their children, which I think was awesome. But yeah, I’m really excited to have a theatrical release and be able to revisit that one because it’s been a while.
You’ve done really well in voice acting as well. Does your approach change any when you’re doing a voice role compared to physical acting, or is it the same?
I would say it’s pretty different. For example, when I’m doing live-action, I like to keep things very subtle with my acting. The thing about animation is [that] the only thing it captures is your voice, so it doesn’t matter how you look in the recording booth. I find that it’s easier to go big with your expressions and your facial expressions to make sure that all the notes of the emotion are being played off in your voice.
Another voice-acting role you have is Damian Wayne in the Harley Quinn series. Damian’s an interesting character because he’s so beloved in the comics, but we haven’t seen him a ton outside of that. How’s it been being some people’s first introduction to Damian Wayne?
It’s pretty cool. What I love about this one is that I started voicing this character when I was … I don’t even remember. I think I might’ve been 11 when we recorded at the start. So it’s cool to see how they write the character as it moves on, because at the start, he is a bratty kid. Now he’s a bratty teenager, at this point, which I think is very cool. Obviously, my voice has changed a lot, so … I remember the other day, I was just rewatching it on Netflix a little bit. I thought it was pretty cool to see that. It’s a really funny character. I’ve really enjoyed recording for that one.
You’ve been at this for a decade, but you’re still so young. Where do you feel like you’re at in your career? Are you still very much learning and soaking things in? It’s weird to say, but you are a bit of a veteran at this point.
It’s definitely interesting, because I definitely am very experienced on set, but I feel like — even for the biggest stars in the world — there’s always something to learn. I’m just excited to do future projects. I like playing a bunch of different characters, so I’m excited to see where that takes me and what characters I get to play and do research behind the character. I’m really excited for my future.
Later this year, it’ll be five years since Doctor Sleep came out. You recently worked with Mike Flanagan again for The Life of Chuck. What’s so special about Mike’s approach? You always see actors just dying to keep working with him, and the end result’s always so spectacular.
I think the second movie I ever did and my first lead role was a movie called Before I Wake, and that was with Mike Flanagan. So that’s kind of how our relationship started. But he was great with working with me. I believe I was six or seven at that time. That was awesome. Doctor Sleep was really cool because it was a very gruesome scene. I had a lot of fun with it. Mike’s a fantastic director. He’s really talented and he always makes his productions so enjoyable to be on. He’s just such a phenomenal director and is able to control the entire production so easily.
