He got his break playing Geena Davis’s son in Accidents Happen. Since then, Harry Cook’s life reads like a movie in itself. Matt Myers discovers the many faces of this new-age star.
Congratulations on being nominated for Celebrity of the Year at Australia’s first LGBTI Awards. How did that feel?
Harry Cook: I was really honoured and actually overwhelmed. It was really special just to be in the same category as the other nominees, such as Kerryn Phelps, who are doing such great work for the LGBTI community. It was just lovely.
Last year you married your partner Liam Davis in the US. A bittersweet situation given that you can’t marry in your own country!
Yes, it’s pretty depressing that we had to do it over there. It was just the two of us with our dog. We chose not to have it with any of our family and said to stay home, because one day when it’s legal and can happen here, we’ll get everybody together and do it all again. We’re just waiting!
So even though you got married in the States, is it recognised here?
No! We’re not even recognized as married here. Though I think they’re trying to push the law, so that overseas marriages are recognised in Australia, but I don’t think it’s happened yet. It would sure be lovely if it does!
You came out quite publicly in 2013 via a YouTube posting. Did you have concerns about doing that, especially toward your career?
Yes, I was terrified. Especially when there’s this kind of unspoken thing about actors being openly gay, which is sad because straight actors don’t need to announce that they’re straight. They can just be themselves. But when you come out as gay, sometimes, not always, there’s this limited idea of what you can do. But I haven’t found that yet. Touch wood!
In the gay themed movie Drown you actually played straight. Do you think the perception that a known gay actor can’t play a straight role has finally changed?
More so that it was. Especially now that we’ve had actors like Neil Patrick Harris playing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, where he was quite the womanizer, and Zachary Quinto playing the aggressive Harry in the US version of The Slap. There’s a lot more chances happening for gay actors to play straight roles, and I think the more that happens the better. I just hope it continues. In Drown I played the one straight character in the whole movie, which was kind of ironic!
In the past you were advised to keep your sexuality a secret, for career sake. So looking back, that was wrong?
Yes it was wrong…well I think it’s not necessary. That was when I first started around six years ago, and I had a different agent and manager. They said to maybe keep it quiet, but the team behind me now is incredible. I think it’s sad to hide that part of yourself in your career, because it’s great being able to share your showcase of work, and enjoy all the fun stuff with the people you love. I always had to hide Liam whenever we had an event, or he just couldn’t come along, which is really sad. So yeah, I believe in telling it like it is!
Your first big role came playing Geena Davis’s son in Accidents Happen (2009). How did that role come about?
I had just left school, and the script came along, so I auditioned for the lead role of Billy. But when I went in to see the casting director, I asked if they’d mind me reading for the part of his older brother. They said maybe and they’d get back to me, and I thought I’d blown it. But they called me back in for that part I wanted and I managed to get it. That whole thing was really surreal, especially as I’d never done anything before. Going from nothing to having a big role was kind of cool.
And you got on well with Geena?
I still do! Geena’s one of the loveliest and sweetest people and such a close friend. She’s become a big mentor to me and I really look up to her. She’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet and so down to earth. I couldn’t have asked for a better on-screen mum.
Drown was one incredibly intense film, dealing with violence and homophobia set in the world of lifesaving, and you played one of the perpetrators. How did you handle that?
It was rough and I found it really hard the whole way through filming. We shot all the violent stuff on the beach over a two-month period, and by the end everyone was exhausted. Those scenes are just so horrible and brutal, and it kind of breaks your heart doing it every night for a few months. It was really hard playing someone who didn’t step up and help until the last minute. It was probably one of the hardest films I’ve ever done and probably will ever do. At the end of the day I had to have a shower and a bit of a cry.
When Matt Levett, who played Len, did this interview, he said you all bonded and really looked out for each other.
We kind of had to. We were all so shaken up every day that we needed a group hug. Especially for Jack Matthews who played Phil. It was his first film and he was so good and so brave with what he had to do. I definitely couldn’t do something like that again, but I was very pleased with the way it turned out.
How did you prepare for the role of Meat?
We worked out a lot. I was training five days a week and not eating anything but protein. I’d seen people like Meat, who were the bystanders in bad situations and didn’t speak up. So I kind of knew what that character was like. I reflected back on school where a lot of people weren’t actual bullies, but they’d stand by and let the bullies do their thing. I think that’s really common, and unfortunately still happens.
Playing lifesavers, did you all immerse yourself in that environment?
Yes, we spent some time filming at a lifesaving club. In fact, on day one, we were waiting to shoot a scene, when an actual lifesaver came up to us and said ‘It looks like a gay bar up here!’ We were all like wow! This is exactly the reason why we’re making this film – because of people like you! But not all lifesavers are like that.
Have you experienced homophobia yourself?
Yeah, really badly back in school, and also in general life. Liam and I were once in a supermarket and some guy barged right through us and said ‘move fag!’ We were so shocked we didn’t get a chance to say anything. Unfortunately it happens a lot. People don’t realise just how much.
You and Liam love your bulldog Poppy. Would you like to have children?
We would really love to. We’ve been looking into adoption or surrogacy, although surrogacy is still not legal in Australia, which is a pain. So we’d have to go to LA to do that. But that’s not really a problem for us. Maybe in the next five to ten years, we’ll have a little kid running around our feet.
Who would you turn straight for?
It’s such a gay answer, but Emma Stone (La La Land). I think she’s such a sweetheart. I’d probably only be with her for her personality, but she’s also so gorgeous looking.
Who is your diva?
I think Beyoncé is awesome. She’s an epic performer who knows how to own the stage, and has such a powerful voice. I love the Lemonade album.
When it comes to theatre, film and television, do you have a favourite medium?
I love film. I think the thing about film is that it lasts forever. Television does too, but I love the fact that a film starts and ends in a whole two-hour story. I’ve got movies now from when I was eighteen to the present and they’re like home movies, but as different people that I got to play. I think you also have a lot more creative freedom on movies, because they are slower to make.
What project are you currently working on?
It’s still early days, but I’m hoping to produce the LGBTI themed play The Normal Heart. It’s a great play by Larry Kramer dealing with the AIDS crisis of the Eighties. I’ve been wanting to produce it for years now.
Has anyone in the industry been a particular mentor or influence to you?
Geena Davis. She’s had an incredible career and I look up to her. It’s not just her acting, but she’s such a good person. She fights for women’s rights and gender equality. Without even really teaching me directly, she taught me how to behave on a movie set, just by being herself. She’s so gracious to the crew and so sweet to every actor that she meets. She takes her job seriously, but also knows how to have fun. I was star struck and nervous when I first met her, but I think she knew how terrifying it must have been for a seventeen-year-old Australian actor fresh in his first film!
