The In-depth Mind of Cosmo Jarvis
Written by Jemima Marriott
Photographer: Jemima Marriott
Styling: Tony Cook @ One Represents
Grooming: Petra Sellge @ The Wall Group using Daimon Barber
Cosmo Jarvis is as interesting as the characters that he plays. He’s an in-depth thinker, who thinks a little more out-of-the-box than most, which makes him extremely fascinating. Cool America Magazine sat down with Cosmo for one of its most interesting interviews to date.
You’ve been busy the last few years. Do you feel you’re finding your momentum?
Well, I think I’ve been finding employment and for that I’m grateful. The frequency of employment prospects has certainly improved and I guess that’s a good thing depending on which way you look at it.
If you had to give an aspiring actor/actress one word of advice, what would it be?
The same advice I was given by a wise actor; don’t follow advice. Unless perhaps maybe you think it might be given to you by someone who gave to you out of an unadulterated desire to bestow useful knowledge upon you; someone whose work and opinion you trust. But even then, maybe just ignoring it might still be the best thing for your legacy. The same guy who told me not to take advice also told me to just keep doing what I do and so I’d say that’s a useful tip for people. I guess it doesn’t really help if you are doing something wrong but that said, a lot of people started out doing something wrong and then were realised somehow or became competent or were able to work steadily. Trust your gut maybe.
Your last film in the US was the Shadow of Violence (Calm with Horses) playing Douglas “Arm” Armstrong? What was the biggest challenge in portraying him?
I guess doing justice to Joe Murgtah’s script and to the world Colin had created and doing my part in ensuring what I could see as its potential was achieved. I also didn’t want to sell short the Irish in any way. It was a notably novel experience for me at the time, to be awarded such responsibility, and so I’d summarise that all of it was a challenge as any work should be. I wanted the systems of Arm’s psychological computation to be formed and credible.
How did you react when you first read the script?
I really saw a lot in it, from all angles. Character, world and archetype’s and I just thought it was so well written, both in terms of the story arc but also the identity of the characters and the language used to shape them. I loved the tone of it and how that tone could allow for the work of actors to be done. I very much wanted to go for it.
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