Actor Rick Cosnett has built up an impressive filmography over the last few years. He was a series regular as Eddie Thawne on season 1 of The Flash and reprised the role on multiple occasions throughout the 9-season run.
Rick has also worked on shows such as The Vampire Diaries, Quantico, NCIS and Castle.
In this interview, we discuss Rick’s newest film Shoulder Dance, working with the cast and his upcoming projects.
To check out Rick’s previous interview with Courageous Nerd, click here.
For anyone who hasn’t heard about Shoulder Dance, how would you set up the premise?
Rick Cosnett: It’s delicious, it’s wild – these two friends reconnect, from childhood to teenage years. They haven’t seen each other since they were 16. I come in with my girlfriend and we mess s**t up, to put it that way. It’s all about relationships and everything gets very messy; intertwined, entangled. In the end, it’s surprisingly heartfelt. I’ve cried every time I’ve seen it at festivals. I’ve had a little screening with my Australian friends who absolutely loved it. It’s such a romp, you’re on the edge of your seat emotionally throughout. The characters are just really fun to follow because the script is so real, it’s so good. The chemistry between us completely flowed and also translated onto the screen, which is quite rare. I hate giving things away, so that’s all I’m going to say.
What was the main draw to this project — was it the character, or the people you’d be working with?
Rick Cosnett: Matt Dallas, who was Kyle XY, was already cast in it. He’s such a great actor, so I was really attracted to it. First of all, they offered it to me. I didn’t have to audition, which is always a positive for me. Starting off on a good note, because I hate auditioning. The script was just so genius. They may or may not take certain substances and it was really accurately about people on the substances. Films so often get it wrong. In films, you have someone snorting cocaine and like “Ah, I’m high!” Wait, what?
Whereas, this was just very real and natural. Dialogue is usually so hard to write, it’s not usually great, but this is so good. So natural and my character is so confident and rambunctious. Almost like a Jason Momoa type, just really comfy in his skin. Very charismatic and sensual. No social conditioning or all that stuff, very free. He teaches other people to be free. I just love that about him. I came in hot every day and just went for it.
Had you worked with any of the cast before? How was your experience working with that group?
Rick Cosnett: No, I hadn’t worked with any of them before. It was delicious. I went to set on the first day – it was a scene between Taylor Frey and Samuel Larsen. I was like, “Oh my God, this is so good!” Seeing the monitor, seeing what they looked like on screen. They’re just wonderful people as well. Very well rounded. It was really great to get to know them because it was delicious knowing the journey we were going to go on, as characters, in between action and cut. Everyone really leaned into their character, even though they weren’t actually like that in real life – which I only sort of realised in the months after filming. It’s been a year and a half now, we’re on a text chain. I realised Maggie’s not actually like that in real life. Taylor is not as shy and reserved as his character. I’m a little more hesitant than my character.
It was super, super fun to almost transform, subconsciously I guess. It was a very cool vibe on set. Everyone’s very free; we gave each other permission to go there, I think because we were all very open, just really present and going for it, emotionally and physically. The director really provided a great forum, a nice fertile soil for us to do our thing. Very cool to get to know these people – using my acting craft to project and substitute for the relationship at first. After a while, it was using what was right in front of me. It was so incredible.
Where can people catch Shoulder Dance?
Rick Cosnett: It’s out on Amazon Prime, it’s out on Apple TV. Google Play, DVD. It’s going really well, I think it was number one on the Amazon list. The link is in my bio on Instagram, @rickcosnett.
Are there any other recent projects that you’d like to shout out?
Rick Cosnett: There’s a project called The Exchange, written and directed by Taylor Frey who’s in Shoulder Dance. It’s coming out next year – a beautiful film. There’s a cameo from Kyle Richards from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which I’m obsessed with. It’s a super fun romantic comedy and I play a British person for the first time on screen.
I’ve also got an Apple TV series coming out called Palm Royale, with Kristin Wiig, Laura Dern, Ricky Martin, Allison Janney, Carol Burnett. It’s a great, great cast so that should be released pretty soon. That’s super fun, in the 60s in Palm Beach, Florida. That’s going to be hopefully a big one, we’ll see.
Very best of luck with Shoulder Dance and your other projects. Thank you for taking the time to chat today, it was really great!
Rick Cosnett: Thank you Conor, thank you so much, you’re amazing. Good to see you again.
Follow writer Conor O’Brien on Twitter
A lifelong TV and Film buff, Conor founded Courageous Nerd in 2019. He has conducted hundreds of interviews for the site, as well as written comprehensive feature articles on a variety of topics. You can find him on X: @conorrcn.
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