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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 3 august 2022
Oliver Jackson-Cohen charms, mystifies in thriller ‘Surface’

By ALICIA RANCILIO and draw you in. I remem-
Associated Press ber the first time we got to
Hey, casting agents, listen meet in person. There was a
up. Oliver Jackson-Cohen song playing and he start-
is interested in lighter roles. ed doing a little shoulder
That doesn’t mean he dance and I was like, ‘That
hasn’t enjoyed the dark- is the most goofy, charm-
er, sometimes scarier fare ing thing on earth.’ And
he’s mostly appeared in we ended up writing it (in a
throughout the past few scene,) he seems a little bit
years but his mother says menacing in the subtext,
he needs a break. but also has this immense
Mom’s commentary came charm to him. I think that’s
last year when Jackson- the duality of James.”
Cohen arrived in Vancou- Jackson-Cohen says he
ver to film the new series “ finds that playing flawed
Surface “ now streaming people is therapeutic.
weekly on Apple TV+. She “I don’t know what it says
said to him, “’You’re not about me, but I’m drawn
going to play one of your to the pain that’s in people.
sad boys, are you?’ I find the release of that in-
“I went, ‘What?’ She said, credibly comforting, which
‘You’re always (expletive) sounds so messed up. It re-
sad. Do something light ally does feel like an outlet
that I can go and enjoy which sounds like a com-
watching,’” Jackson-Co- plete and utter actor.”
hen laughed. “So that sort For now, Jackson-Cohen
of stuck with me.” is back in Vancouver film-
It’s been a busy few years. ing a series for Prime Video
Jackson-Cohen’s recent This image released by Apple TV+ shows Oliver Jackson-Cohen in “Surface.” called “Wilderness” op-
career highlights include Associated Press posite Jenna Coleman,
Netflix’s “The Haunting of which he describes as “not
Hill House” series and its hen stars opposite Gugu esting when someone’s sit- on and the layers are sort lighthearted at all.” Next
follow-up “The Haunting of Mbatha-Raw as James, a ting on a bunch of secrets,” of peeled, you realize what up, he’s hoping there will
Bly Manor.” He also terror- husband desperately try- he said. “That creates so is all underneath that.” be another season of “Sur-
ized Elisabeth Moss in “ The ing to keep the pretenses much tension, and if you’re Veronica Webb, the cre- face” which he enjoys, in
Invisible Man “ and played of a happy marriage afloat not allowed to say certain ator and showrunner of part, because he’s known
Dakota Johnson’s control- after an accident caused things and you’re holding “Surface,” says it’s the bal- Mbatha-Raw for years.
ling husband in “The Lost his wife, Sophie (Mbatha- so much back, it can be ance of mystique and like- “I did one of my first ever
Daughter.” He did get a re- Raw), to lose her long-term read in a multitude of dif- ability that makes “some- jobs with Gugu when I was
spite, however, in this sum- memory. The more James ferent ways. Hopefully it’s thing super special about 19. We did like an episode
mer’s rom-com “ Mr. Mal- tries to masquerade past worked and it does come Olly’s performance” in the of some very questionable
com’s List,” an experience problems, the more suspi- across as overprotective or series. “He’s got an inten- BBC thing, We’ve known
he describes as “a joyful cious and distant Sophie controlling or whatever it sity that can feel very dan- each other since then, and
romp.” becomes. is or, sinister. But hopefully, gerous, but also extremely she’s such a wonderful hu-
In “Surface,” Jackson-Co- “There’s something so inter- you know, as the show goes charismatic and magnetic man being.”q
New York prisons lift ban on book about Attica uprising

1971 Attica Correctional hensive accounts of the shame we live in a country
Facility uprising following uprising, where more than where we censor people
a First Amendment lawsuit 1,300 inmates took over and ideas.”
brought by its author. part of a prison in upstate She was represented in the
State officials, however, New York to protest years lawsuit by the Civil Rights
said they will continue to of mistreatment. It ended Clinic at the Benjamin N.
censor one small part of when state troopers and Cardozo School of Law
the Pulitzer-prize winning guards shot tear gas into and the New York Civil Lib-
book for security reasons. a prison yard before firing erties Union.
A two-page map of Attica hundreds of rounds into the Last week, the state attor-
will be removed from cop- smoke. In total, 32 inmates ney general’s office said
ies sent into the prisons. and 11 staff were killed, in a letter to a U.S. judge
Author Heather Ann with no law enforcement in Manhattan that the ban
Thompson, a historian and officers put on trial for their would be lifted, but only in
State police in riot gear regain control of prisoners following professor at the University of role in the massacre. paperback copies where
the Attica prison riot in Attica, New York, Sept. 1971. The riot, in
which 43 were killed, lasted four days during which guards were Michigan, sued the state’s “People have a right to the map can be removed.
held as hostages. prisons in March over the read, and people have If a correctional facility re-
Associated Press ban on her book “Blood in a right to history,” Thomp- jects a request for an order
the Water: The Attica Upris- son said in a statement of the book, prison officials
By MAYSOON KHAN a ban that had stopped ing of 1971.” when the lawsuit was filed. are now legally obligated
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New state prison inmates from Published in 2016, the book “We also have a right to to send Thompson notice
York authorities have lifted reading a book about the is one of the most compre- have our books read. It’s a of that.q