Everyone is buzzing about the deliriously funny performances of Samantha Bee, Jason Jones and Mike Beaver in Cooper?s Camera.  What?s amazing is that the child/teen actors in the film are operating on about the same level. 

I caught up with Nick McKinlay and Dylan Everett on our way to the after-party and hit them with these questions:

Nick

1) Did you do any hermaphrodite research?  It's a fascinating subject.

Umm, yes I spent a couple months with some flatworms and mollusks, you know--really got into their headspace.

 2) Did you ever have a gender-inappropriate toy like the pink pony your character is given?
 

Thankfully my toys consisted almost entirely of Jurassic Park merchandise so even if I did receive a pink pony it would have been quickly devoured by the T.Rex or raptors or a crazed Ian Malcolm after being bitten by a poisonous triceratops with rabies...
 
3) Is it easier to pick up babes if you are in a film with tonnes of TIFF buzz?

Well, I would imagine it would be.  However my situation is a little different, unfortunately Marcus Cooper isn't exactly a "sex pot" waiting to burst.  And I would also assume that any of the clips in the film where I am not wearing a shirt or am howling like a wookie (sometimes both) would negate all potenial babe-up-picking.  

4) Do you shamelessly promote yourself on Facebook with regards to this film?  If not, I suggest you start immediately.  I would have a picture with me and Dave Foley and it would say, "Me and my best pal Dave Foley" or something.

I don't actually, however I have been compulsively googling myself/the film.  It's like more natural than checking my email now haha.  I know it sounds vain and whatnot, but I'm excited. I mean when I used to google image myself and it would be like some forty-year-old dude with a fro and a handlebar mustache, now it's me sitting on a couch with Jason Jones and Samantha Bee!  Pretty unreal.

5) How old are you?
  

Almost old enough to drink, not old enough to grow a proper beard...I'm eighteen.



6) Tell me a bit about your acting experience before Cooper?s Camera.
       

My acting experience has mostly been with with my high school drama club back in Sarnia, ON.  As well as a couple local films and like two lines on a Disney channel show.

7) Which cast member made you laugh the hardest?

Ummm I would call it a tie between absolutely everyone in the cast, I'm sure there will be a whole blooper reel on the DVD of just me ruining takes by laughing haha, even in the final cut there's a couple split seconds moments where I'm smiling, that's not right, Marcus Cooper doesn't really have anything to smile about.

8) What?s the funniest thing that happened to you on-set?
       

I would say the entire filming of the scene where we are all in the car on our way to the tobogganing hill, just driving recklessly around a very quaint suburban neighborhood while Mike and Jay improvised off each other for like ten minutes, it was chaotic and hilarious and I will never forget it.

9) What?s next for you?
      

 I'm studying English at UofT right now in my first year, and well, hopefully I will catch someone's eye and have the opportunity to be in more films.

10) Have you been to any Festival films, if so what?
       

I went and saw Vinyan, which was fantastic, and I've got tickets to Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Pontypool.

11) What do your parents think of the movie?
       

My parents are very proud of myself and everyone, thankfully they share the film's ummm, interesting brand of humour haha.

12) Were you a Daily Show fan going into the project?
        

Very much so, but I was even more of a Ham & Cheese fan, in fact a I saw it like a month before before being cast in Cooper's and all of a sudden it was like "Holy shit I'm making a movie with these people!" It was very surreal.

13) Who would you be more afraid of if they got mad at you, Sam Bee or Jason Jones, why?
       

Umm, Jason by default simply because Sam is so sweet and motherly I can't even picture her being mad or scary, they were both very patient with me and all my "first feature naivete".  I learned so much from both of them as professionals and as people.

14) What?s been the best part of this experience for you?
      

 The eleven days we spent shooting Cooper's was simultaneously the most insane, stressful, whirlwind, riotous, and rewarding experience of my entire life.  It was a crash course in movie making and I couldn't be more happy that I got to work with Warren and the rest of the amazing group of of people that contributed to the film. Oh, and meeting Dave Foley was pretty cool too.

Dylan

1) How old are you?  13 

2) Tell me a bit about your acting experience before Cooper?s Camera.
     I've done a couple of feature films (Breakfast with Scot, The Devil's Mercy) and a few roles for television (The Dresden Files, Booky, The Latest Buzz) and a few short films.

3) Which cast member made you laugh the hardest?  Wow...that's a hard one. Mike Beaver's character was just so ridiculous and over the top and nothing like him in real life....that always made me laugh. But I had a hard time keeping a straight face with Jason Jones' when I was in a scene with him...his facial expressions and the way he said something always cracked me up. The same with Nick McKinley....they were really all so funny!

4) What?s the funniest thing that happened to you on-set?  Probably when I had to put on the prosthetic. It was a little embarrassing, but it cracked up the crew.

5) What?s next for you?  I just completed filming a pilot for a TV series for the Family Channel and next week I start shooting another TV movie for the CBC.

6) Have you been to any Festival films, if so what?  No, I haven't...it was hard enough to get tickets for my own movie! Plus we live out of town, so it's hard for me to get in to see them late at night.

7) What do your parents think of the movie?  My dad hasn't seen it yet, but my Mom couldn't stop laughing. She says it's one of the funniest movies she's ever seen....

8) Were you a Daily Show fan going into the project?  Not really...I had heard of it because my parents watched it but it was always on late at night so I couldn't watch it all the time. After I got the part in the movie, I made an effort to catch it and now I'm hooked. Sam and Jason are so good in it...now I know why that show is so popular! 

9) Who would you be more afraid of if they got mad at you, Sam Bee or Jason Jones, why?  Sam Bee because I know I can run faster than Jason Jones...chuckle... 

10) What?s been the best part of this experience for you?  Without a doubt, working with this amazing cast and crew. Comedy is my favorite thing to do and I had the chance to work with some of the best comedic actors in the business. I just watched and learned. Warren and the crew were so nice to me and they all worked so hard on this film to get it right. I am so happy to be a part of it and happy that people like it.

Screens Wednesday at 2:45 and Friday at 6pm at AMC.