Netflix’s ‘Adolescence,’ each episode filmed in one shot, grapples with male rage 

LOS ANGELES, USA – Netflix’s Adolescence is an emotional powerhouse, stunningly acted by a cast led by newcomer Owen Cooper, who was only 14 years old when he landed this four-part series, his screen acting debut, and get this — each episode was filmed in one continuous shot.

The one-shot element adds to Adolescence’s compelling quality, a seamless, gut-wrenching experience directed by Philip Barantini, about how a family’s world in a northern English town is thrown into emotional disarray when their 13-year-old son, Jamie Miller (Owen), is arrested for the stabbing murder of a teenage girl who also attended his school.

The limited series, taking place over 13 months, reflects through its harrowing story of a boy fatally attacking a girl, the effects of social media, online bullying, and the growing alienation between parents and children in today’s digital world.

Stephen Graham, who created the series and made his co-writing debut with Jack Thorne, movingly portrays Eddie, the father who must deal with the aftermath of his young son’s brutal deed. 

Christine Tremarco and Amelie Pease delineate Manda and Lisa, Jamie’s mom and sister, respectively, whose lives are also turned upside down.

Ashley Walters stars as detective inspector Luke Bascombe who leads the investigation, with Faye Marsay as his partner, detective sergeant Misha Frank.

Erin Doherty, as Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case, appears in a powerful extended scene in the third episode where she and Owen are terrific.

The crime drama, one of the best series in recent years, is not a whodunit but more of a whydunit.

Stephen Graham (left) and Owen Cooper, playing father and son, are both moving and superb.

“One of our aims was to ask, ‘What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet and social media?’ And the pressures that come from all of those things are as difficult for kids here as they are the world over,” Stephen explained in the press notes. 

“Ultimately, for all of us, the central theme was about male rage and alienation — particularly working class male alienation,” he added. 

“And the ways in which social media fans the flames. It is marginalizing our young men and making them feel separate, it’s giving them reasons to hate and preaching that manipulating girls is the way to succeed with them.”

One continuous shot

Stephen explained the one-shot inspiration for Adolescence: “We (he and Philip) did a film called Boiling Point, which was all done in one shot, really well-received, and we were asked to do a TV series. Immediately, I come up with an idea of making something like this because a while before, I’d read an incident in a newspaper where a young boy had stabbed a young girl to death.”

“Then a couple of months later, on the news, on the BBC, there was an incident, and there was a story, again of a young boy stabbing a young girl to death, and they (the two boys) were both at opposite ends of the country,” he shared during a virtual press conference.

“It really hurt my heart, and I just thought, what’s happening in today’s society where a young boy does something like this?”

Christine Tremarco and Stephen Graham portray parents of a young boy accused of murder.

The actor-creator said he found it important to push these stories forward and “raise some awareness.”

“It’s not a one-off incident. It’s not like a long attack or anything like that. There seemed to be a few of these cases up and down the country,” Stephen noted.

“I’ve said this before, but in the context of it takes a village to raise a child, so kind of that aspect of looking at who is accountable, and why would a young boy go to these lengths and commit this horrific crime,” he said. “That’s where it came from.”

Story idea

Stephen also discussed the story’s impetus as he and Phil both have a “healthy obsession” with 24 Hours in Police Custody.

“What we wanted to do was to make a police procedural drama which wasn’t your conventional police procedural drama,” said Stephen, adding that they wanted to veer away from the “normal narrative” utilized in these types of drama.

“We’d normally see it from the perspective of the family of the victim and rightly so. That’s the kind of story that should be told as well. But we wanted to do something different. We wanted to change the narrative so we wanted to tell it from the perspective of the kid who’s committed the act.”

Ashley Walters as detective inspector Luke Bascombe and Faye Marsay as detective sergeant Misha Frank team up for the investigation.

Stephen, whose credits as an actor include Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, said they also wanted to do away with character clichés.

“We wanted to relive that kind of dad who never raised his hand. So, dad wasn’t violent, mum was not an alcoholic. He (accused boy) hasn’t been abused physically, mentally or sexually by one of his uncles or another member of the family,” he said.

“We wanted to eliminate all of those possibilities, just look at it from a different perspective, and see why he’s done this.” 

Stephen credited co-writer Jack Thorne for delving into the “dark side of stuff that’s out there on social media.”

“That’s where the whole ‘incel’ construct and all of that thing came from,” he said. “So, that was the aspect that we were looking at it from when we wanted to create something slightly different.”

Incel or involuntary celibates, one of the terms we learn in the limited series, is associated with an online subculture of heterosexual males who are unable to find a romantic or sexual partner, and blame and denigrate women and girls as a result.

Elaborate one-take preparations

Stephen reveled in the very challenging atmosphere of shooting each episode in one continuous take despite the complicated preparations it required — from weeks of rehearsals; coordination of the team to go over everything, from the script, locations, sets, to camera placement and angles. The crew even built a set and actor models so they can visualize and map out the scenes.

“It’s a wonderful experience, really, for any actor because we spend the week rehearsing, and we spend a week really analyzing the script,” he said. 

“We really analyzed the script so we could make it our own. We really get to understand the relationships and the dynamics of the conversations that are happening. And we look at all of those things — your wants, means, reasons to why and what.”

Ashley Walters (right), as a cop investigating the case of a boy who murders a girl, chats with his son, played by Amari Bacchus.

Stephen added, “We analyze every single word to the extent where, if Owen thinks that you wouldn’t say things in a particular way, then it’s like, okay, so how would you say it? Because we’re not teenage boys, so he has an understanding of the language that would be used.”

He shared how they “meticulously worked out the road map” — the choreography, camera placement — but at the same time, there’s spontaneity. 

“We work the process with the camera and it’s very organic. It’s a real kind of natural process,” Stephen said.

“[You] marry both mediums so we have that spontaneity and visceral energy when you’re performing on stage. But also, we have the kind of naturalism and the social realism element of working with film and television,” he added, noting it’ one of the “most wonderful, freeing experiences “ he had as an actor.

Planned yet spontaneous 

Ashley, who also goes by the name Asher D as a rapper, said they really had to trust each other to perfect one continuous shot.

“There is an ensemble cast, everyone picks up the ball no matter how quickly they pass it over or how long they have it. It doesn’t matter. We’re all in it together,” he said.

“And when you drop it, someone else picks it up and gives it back to you. That was the process.”

Ashley Walters commands the limited series.

Ashley, much like Stephen, said shooting the series made him feel “free” and he “started to just respond to what was happening.”

“ I just wish I could work like this like every day. I’s one of the best experiences in the world.”

For Erin, filming in one shot inspired her to be a “better actor” because she had to be fully present. 

“I read the script and obviously, I knew I wanted to be a part of it but nothing can prepare you for what the experience is going to be like until you’re there in that rehearsal room,” she said.

“I was living the dream, like it’s everything you hope it to be. It forces you to be a better actor because you have to just remain present and go with every offer that is conscious, subconscious, and positive or maybe negative. You just have to go with it.”

Erin Doherty plays Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to the juvenile case.

Erin said in shooting the one-take series, she learned to just “let go” and  “just surrender and jump off that cliff.” 

“As scary as it may be, only good work can come from that,” she said.

Owen Cooper: An astonishing discovery

Owen, chosen from hundreds of hopefuls who sent their tapes, said he was “really nervous” acting for the first time before the cameras.

“There was a vast net that was cast, and we looked at lots and lots of tapes. Throughout all of those wonderful people that put themselves on tape, this gem popped through,” Stephen said of Owen.

The young teen — who also shared that he “never had the confidence to act in school” — admitted it was “daunting at first” and felt his long scene with Erin’s character Briony, the child psychologist, was the most difficult. 

“It was a bit out of my comfort zone, really,” said Owen, noting the confrontational scenes where he had to “get right up in her face and scare her.” 

Stephen said his remarkable, young co-actor was an astonishing discovery. 

“The other thing as well is, Cooper is a million miles away from Jamie. He’s one of the most lovely, sweetest kids you’ll ever meet in your life. His mom and dad are adorable. He comes from a wonderful family who were so supportive, so loving and caring,” shared Stephen.

“So, it’s a million miles away from him to play this role. He and Phil worked meticulously and intensely, creating this character and pulling this performance out of him because it’s alien for him.”

Ashley agreed that Owen, who “went to drama lessons in Manchester once a week or so,” is truly gifted.

“I was watching Owen most of the time, like, how the hell is he doing this? Like, how is that? How is it happening? It’s magic,” said Ashley. 

“But he’s just a very skilled actor. I hope you (turns to Owen) go on to great things, man. I think you will.”

Lessons for parents

The series, Ashley said, made him think about his own family relationship.

“[We] are now in society where connection is being lost, it really threw up questions for me about how I deal with my own kids, how I talk to my own boys, and do I need to spend more time with them, just connecting,” Ashley said. 

“Because you’re doing all the great things. As a father, you’re out there, like, I go to work, I make the money, I pay the bills, we go and kick ball on the weekend but how much do you really get to sit down and talk to your kids about what’s going on inside there?”

Stephen shared that often, people think “that could never happen to us.”

“But it’s like, no, this could happen to you, this could be your household. We wanted to make the Millers a normal family, hard-working, decent, loving family. We wanted to make them the people that could live next door to you, or, more importantly, in your home itself,” he said.

Christine Tremarco and Stephen Graham, as parents of the young accused, deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.

“Our obligation was to try and create that conversation within the household, teenagers, young boys and girls, both fathers and mothers, to have conversations with their children,” Stephen shared.

“Because no matter how much we try and teach our kids and parent our kids, at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, this world that we’re in, it’s a completely different world than when we were kids. These devices are teaching, educating and parenting our kids just as much as we are today, if not more in certain ways.”

But the actors agree it’s not about pointing a finger on anyone, but more on starting a “conversation about how we go about solving this.”

“I can’t see a parent turning off Netflix after they watch this and not going into the child’s room and going, ‘Are you okay?’ And just starting a conversation,” said Ashley.

“That’s all we can ask for, really. We don’t know the answers. It could be anything, it could be loads of things but I think it needs to spark conversation.” – Rappler.com