Jacob Kogan Interview, Joshua

MoviesOnline caught up with New York-based actor Jacob Kogan at the Los Angeles press day for his new film, "Joshua,” a gripping suspense thriller, horror story and psychological mind-bender directed by George Ratliff in his feature debut.

Celebrated at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it garnered the Best Cinematography Award, as one of the smartest and most shockingly suspenseful psychological thrillers to hit the independent film world in years, "Joshua” presents the perfect New York couple (Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga) in the perfect swank apartment with their two perfect children, a brilliant prodigy and a brand-new baby – and witnesses as they unravel into total chaos, seemingly driven to madness by the darkness within their 9 year-old son (Jacob Kogan). Harrowingly real, rather than supernatural, the film’s deft blend of dark comedy and obsessive fear left an indelible mark on audiences who couldn’t shake the experience.

Brought to vivid life by newcomer Jacob Kogan, the character of Joshua joins the brief but powerful list of complex child villains in thrillers that range from "The Bad Seed” to "The Exorcist,” "The Omen,” and "The Shining.” Although the filmmakers went on to audition 70 rising young actors upon meeting Jacob Kogan, they instantly agreed that Kogan had an uncanny ability to seem at once child-like and yet suspiciously cool, collected and intelligent far beyond his years. Co-producer George Paaswell comments, "We watched many other actors, and some of them were good, but Jacob was so calm and he looked at the camera and nailed every emotion or lack of emotion that needed to happen. He’s got that precision and intentness that, in Joshua, becomes so scary.”

On the set, Ratliff marveled at how Kogan bonded with Sam Rockwell in the role of his father, who becomes engaged in increasingly high-stakes mind-games with Joshua. "It was fascinating to watch Jacob suck up all of Sam’s techniques,” says Ratliff. "As we made the movie he got so much better, becoming a profoundly good method actor. Jacob is much smarter than I am, and his performance is truly scary. He was wonderful to work with.”

Jacob Kogan is a charming and talented young man and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie:

Q: If you could kill any member of your family and get away with it, who would it be?

JACOB: [jokes] My sister. No. [laughs] I can't. No.

Q: So you're really peaceful?

JACOB: Yeah.

Q: What was it like playing such a demonic little monster?

JACOB: Well, it was kind of fun. You know, because everyone sometimes wants to be the bad guy, get away from what you usually have to do in society, just being normal. And then you get to delve into this kind of world of an evil kid. It's kind of fun being evil.

Q: How do you get yourself to that place? What did you do on set?

JACOB: Well, Sam Rockwell is a fantastic method actor, and he taught me a lot. We did these Meisner exercises, like a repetition exercise, and stuff like that. And he really helped. And we also did these run-throughs of the script like two weeks before we started shooting, and those really helped. And George, and Sam, and Vera all helped me out. And George and I practiced the Joshua poise and everything he did, like his face, and his body, and everything he did. And we rehearsed so much that by the time we started shooting, it became very easy to switch in and out of character.

Q: You did this film two years ago?

JACOB: I filmed last year.

Q: Last year. You were 10 at the time?

JACOB: I was 11...I was 10, I turned 11 in the middle of [shooting]. Now I'm 12.

Q: Have you done anything since then?

JACOB: I did a pilot for a show called "Relocated,” which I hope gets picked up. It's really funny. And I got a callback for a movie called "Choke,” and I have no idea where that'll go. You know, can't get too excited, but...

Q: Is this your calling? Do you want to be an actor?

JACOB: Well actually, what I wanted to do when I grow up...You know, it's a big question. "What do you want to do when you grow up?" It's kind of split between being an actor and being a musician. I'm very passionate about film. I've been watching film since I was a baby. I love films, I love every aspect of it. And then I'm also very passionate about music. I've been listening to it since I was a baby, I'm in a band, I play guitar. And I couldn't decide.

Q: Did you actually play the piano in the movie?

JACOB: Mmm-hmm.

Q: Did you practice a lot?

JACOB: Yeah. I had a teacher named Esther Lee who I didn't kill. [laughter] She was a Juilliard teacher, and we got free piano lessons from her. And she was so fantastic. Because I played piano when I was 6 and 7 for two years, and I didn't really remember how to play. It was a while back. And she understood that I wasn't very good at piano. And because she was so good, after two weeks, I learned these sonatas. And you're actually seeing my hands. It's not like another person's hands. I mean, the audio was pre-recorded and put in, but the images are all actually my hands.

Q: You're good.

JACOB: Thank you.

Q: Joshua has a very buttoned-up style, and very well...

JACOB: ..put together?

Q: Yes. How did you feel dressing up like that?

JACOB: It was really difficult doing the physical appearance of Joshua. He has this very stone cold look to him. He has this stare that he always does, where he's just looking straight forward. And it's pretty creepy. And I got hairspray in my hair every day, and Sam Rockwell would make jokes about it every day saying, "Superman called, he wants his hair back." And I wore all these tight suits. And it was actually really annoying one day. [laughs] We shot the beating up scene at the end, and it was really hot, and I had to wear this yellow long shirt and these tan long pants. And I was at this bronze statue that was absorbing all the heat of the sun, and everything was hot. I was miserable. [laughs]

Q: What scene was the most fun to shoot?

JACOB: Oh, the most fun...Ummm...I'm trying to think. That's hard. Cutting up the panda bear was pretty fun, because you had 10 different pandas, and we just go, "Okay, take's over, get a new panda." And the first take we actually did, they just gave me a panda, and it didn't work because I couldn't pierce the panda with the scissors. I was trying to cut it. And so we just said "Cut,” and then all the next pandas, they actually made a small incision in the stomach and the nose so it could easily go into that. But it was fun, cutting up pandas. And I actually got to keep one of them, because it didn't take ten takes. So I got one of the pandas and it's now in my room.

Q: A half disembodied panda?

JACOB: [laughs] Yeah.

Q: Vera does a lot of yelling and screaming at you. How did you guys get along off-camera?

JACOB: Well, it was actually kind of easy, because I don't know what to compare it to, but for me, it was pretty easy to switch in and out of character. And so everybody on the set was so nice, that it was really easy to just hang out with them. Like Sam and Vera and George and I, we all joked around. It was really fun. And Vera actually really scared me one day. When she's screaming at me in the scene right after the hide and seek she starts screaming at me, and I was actually completely petrified. And even after we did like five takes, even on the fifth take, I was still really freaked out. [laughs] And you can actually see on the screen, if you really look closely, you can see I'm absolutely petrified. It's really funny. [laughs]

Q: How were your adult co-stars with memorizing their lines? Were you ever annoyed because they didn't get their takes right?

JACOB: I never really got annoyed. It was kind of weird, because since it's my first movie, I don't really know what to expect. So I kind of expected people to forget their lines. I didn't have that many lines, so it was actually pretty easy for me to memorize them because mostly it's just facial expressions and physical things. But Sam and Vera have these long, long lines. And you know, I understood when they forgot their lines. So it wasn't that annoying.

Q: Since this is your first movie, how are you enjoying the experience of talking to so many people about your film?

JACOB: It's fun going around talking to a bunch of people about the film. It's fun to express what I felt, because everyone wants to know. But also, it's kind of weird, not going around talking to people, but just sometimes when you have a job like this, being an actor, people treat you like a superior. And it feels kind of weird. Like even throughout the shooting, there's all these people serving you and giving you food and stuff like that. And even in Sundance, one of the worst things was there was a swag party where you go in, you just get free stuff, and then they take photos of you with that stuff. And it just kind of feels weird because you don't want to be treated like a superior. You don't want people kissing your feet. You just want to act like a normal person. So it's times like that that it kind of feels weird. But otherwise, it's totally fine.

Q: So you can see how actors sometimes develop big egos?

JACOB: Yeah. [laughs] Don't want to end up like them.

Q: How did you feel about seeing yourself on screen as Joshua?

JACOB: It was really weird. I've seen it like four or five times, and seeing yourself on screen...like I've seen, of course, home movies and stuff. But seeing yourself in set lighting, new character, stuff like that...It's almost as if I'm watching another movie, but it's just my face pasted on screen. It's really weird. It's like another movie, but it's not.

Q: Do you have a favorite scene you like to watch?

JACOB: I like, actually, the first scene. You know, the soccer game and then the aftermath of that, like crossing the street and the car and the taxi and everything, because that took a lot of different shots. If you look, there are like 15 different shots in that one little time period. And actually, also because it was the first shot I shot of the entire movie. It was a low-to-the-ground shot of me stepping into the street. And I kind of just remember that as the first shot I ever did, so that brings back memories.

Q: Do your friends at school treat you any differently now that you're a movie star?

JACOB: Well, it's actually really helpful, because my friends...They don't really treat me differently, which is fantastic. So I don't really take anything for granted, or nothing goes to my head. It was great. I had a screening for my friends. I had a bunch of my friends come to a screening. And it was funny seeing their reactions. Some of them couldn't take it seriously because they knew me too well and they knew I'd never do that kind of stuff. But then, of course, some other of my friends were really freaked out, and they were holding onto the edge of their seat like clenching their teeth together. And then also, another thing that happened was it was sixth grade graduation, and we went to a theater to see "Ocean's Thirteen,” me and like 30 of my friends. And we went in, and I was getting tickets, and I hear people go, "Oh my God!" And I turn around, and there's this Joshua poster in the theater, and people are like, "Oh my God, it's you!" And they were taking photos with their cell phones. It was really funny.

Q: The baby in the movie is your real life sister?

JACOB: It's actually my brother. Yeah. Because my brother Leo was born two days before we shot the scene where Joshua meets Lily. And so they needed a newborn for that scene. They couldn't substitute a 3-month-old or 5-month-old baby for a newborn. They don't look at all alike. So they called my mom, they said, "Can we borrow your baby?" And she had just given birth, so of course she said, "No, I can't do that. I need to stay in the hospital and rest." And then a bunch of people started calling her, like, "Oh, it'll be great! You have to do this! It'll be fantastic!" And she says, "Okay, I'll do it." She finally agrees. And they call her, they say, "Great, it'll just be two hours. You're going to be there for two hours, and then you can leave, and it's going to be fine." So she's in there for like six hours, and she can't take it any more. She finally hands over my brother to one of the PR guys on the set, and she says, "I can't take this anymore. Find me a bed." And she was in the hospital, so they found her a hospital bed, and she passed out on the hospital bed. [laughs]

Q: Can you relate to some of Joshua's emotions regarding a new sibling in the house?

JACOB: Yeah. It really helped shooting the scene where I meet Lily, because, of course, two days earlier, I met my brother. And it was also kind of the same emotions. Like when I met my brother, I was in absolute shock and I couldn't touch him -- like I was just too shocked, because I lived all 10, 11 years of my life with just me and my sister. And finally, there's another baby that pops into the picture. It was too shocking. You know, I couldn't even wrap my mind around it. And of course, now, I'm totally fine with it. He's the cutest thing ever. And that actually really helped, those past emotions that I had, so that when I started shooting...And it really helped that he was there, because it was almost the exact same thing that had happened two days earlier. And it really helped me to get in the mindset for that scene.

Q: When I was your age, I couldn't express myself as well as you do. How are you so good? Do you read a lot? Did you take a speech class?

JACOB: No. Sometimes I practice. Like before my first interview ever, my mom and I were in Central Park and she started asking me questions that might be asked. And we thought of answers that I would give. So that really helps.

Q: Like a rehearsal?

JACOB: Mmm-hmm. Sort of. Yeah.

Q: Has anyone asked you anything strange that you weren't able to answer?

JACOB: Sometimes. [laughs] But rarely. Most interviews are really good. So it's usually real easy.

Q: What's the typical question that everyone seems to want to know about?

JACOB: Ummm..."Why is Joshua doing all these things?"

Q: And what's your answer to that?

JACOB: Well, I was the only person on set who actually sympathized with him. And I sympathize with him maybe because I was playing him, but I think the reason that I sympathize with him is because I just feel bad for him. That he's doing all these things because he is aspiring for love in his life, because his baby sister is born and his parents show less love for him than they did before, and he feels really bad, and he's jealous. And he feels that he's getting more love from his uncle than he does from his own parents. So he's trying to get this love from his uncle. And it's just kind of a sad story of a kid trying to get the smallest amount of love in his life, because at his current position, he doesn't have any. So I just found it to be really heartbreaking.

Q: So there are superficial similarities between you and your character?

He’s a lot like me. I mean the personality isn’t like me, but the background is, because the character has a baby sister, he lives on the Upper West Side, he goes to a private school and he plays the piano. I mean, I do relate. I'd feel the exact same way, except I wouldn't go to that extreme. I wouldn't ever kill people or things like that.

"Joshua” opens in theaters on July 6^th.