Exclusive Interview: Cooper Koch Talks Swallowed, His Love for Independent Filmmaking, and More

Cooper Koch has emerged as one of the industry’s most exciting up-and-coming storytellers. He’s starred in coveted projects including Power Book II: Ghost and They/Them, and can currently be seen starring in the must-see horror film, Swallowed.

After a drug run goes bad, two friends must survive a nightmarish ordeal of drugs, bugs and horrific intimacy in this backwoods body-horror thriller.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Cooper about Swallowed, his love for independent filmmaking, how he hopes the film normalizes sexuality in media, and more!

PC: Tell us about Swallowed, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Cooper: It centers around these two friends, Benjamin [Cooper Koch] and Dom [Jose Colon]. Benjamin’s getting ready to move to LA to become a porn star. Dom wants to send him off to LA with some extra cash, and basically, they get caught up in this drug trafficking scandal where they have to swallow these drugs that don’t end up being what you think they are.

I’d known the writer-director Carter [Smith] for about four or five years before I got the script. There have been a couple of projects that we almost worked on together that didn’t end up coming to fruition. Then my team sent me the script. I read it and loved it. It’s a total page-turner. I didn’t want to stop reading it. I loved the character, and I put myself on tape. Carter really liked it. We had a meeting, and then he offered me the part.

PC: There is so much vulnerability that you need to tap into for this role. As an actor, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into your character’s arc and journey?
Cooper: I actually created a lot of the relationship between Benjamin and Dom, and of course, I created a bit of my family dynamic and how Benjamin grew up and why he wanted to leave to LA. He was done with rural Maine. He wanted some more glitz and glam. He knows that he’s attractive. He knows that he likes having sex. That was his trajectory. I really worked a lot on that.

But I didn’t focus too much on the circumstances of what happens in the film because Benjamin doesn’t know that he’s about to go through this experience. I really wanted to go into it and experience what was going to happen right in front of me as if I was experiencing it. I didn’t really want to do much planning or preparation about how I was going to look or what I was going to do or how I was going to experience it but instead just experience it as if it were really happening.

PC: Carter has such a distinct reason for creating this film and wanting to bring much-needed representation to the screen. Did that bring a different weight to this project?
Cooper: Absolutely. That’s what’s so special about this one. It’s not about the queer experience. It doesn’t put a flashlight or spotlight on it. It doesn’t put a spotlight on what it means to be queer or what it means to come out or the queer experience in and of itself. It’s about something entirely different. It’s about unrequited love. It’s about survival. It’s about other things. It so happens that the characters identify as queer. That’s such an important way to normalize sexuality in film. I hope to see that across the genres and not only in horror. I want to see a romcom where it just so happens that the two people are gay and it has nothing to do with them being gay. It’s just how they are.

PC: Carter wrote and directed this project. Is the filming experience different when the person who created this universe is also at the helm directing? What was that collaboration like?
Cooper: Carter really empowered me. If I didn’t like something, I could say it and I could change it. I was allowed to improvise. I was allowed to move in a way that I felt was right. He was really open to my opinions and my ideas. That’s the best way to be when you’re creating because it allows you to feel like your voice matters. He was very, very collaborative and open. He’s wonderful to work with.

PC: You’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Cooper: How did you know? It’s my favorite. I love working on a smaller scale because it’s so much more intimate. You get to know the people around you. There’s something so fun about that. I would much rather be sitting in the truck that we’re shooting in and waiting for the setup to be ready rather than going back to my trailer and being alone. I would so much rather be hanging out with the people on set and with the crew, kicking it with everyone. I also think collaboration is more accessible when you’re working on a smaller scale. Something about the intimacy of working with a rag-tag team of twenty filmmakers is more appealing to me. It’s more fun. It’s more engaging.

PC: This film has made its way around the festival circuit, and it’s been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
Cooper: It’s very unexpected. It’s unpredictable. It’s gross. It’s freaky. It makes your skin crawl. But at the same time, there’s this beautiful unrequited love story and relationship underneath it and a friendship that I hope is the thing that people take away the most.

PC: There’s such great chemistry that comes off the screen, especially in those final moments. How were the two of you able to build the friendship and bond that you needed to approach your two character’s dynamics?
Cooper: Carter flew us out to Maine about a week before we started filming. Jose and I had a week to hang out and get to know each other. It developed organically like a friendship. We watched both of Carter’s movies. We watched The Ruins and Jamie Marks Is Dead together. Each night, we watched a different movie. That jeep is Carter’s car. We took the jeep around. We drove around. We had drinks. We made dinners. We talked about the characters and the story. We really connected. Organically, we built a friendship over the week.

Swallowed is now available on VOD and Digital.