Darin Cooper plays Colonel Chadwick in ‘Super Cyclone’ who also had military roles in ‘Air Collision’, Battle of Los Angeles’, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus’ and was a gun dealer in ‘Adopting Terror’. Some actors are born to play certain roles and Darin has the natural appearance of an authoritative figure, but not in an intimidating way. I wish I had that and maybe my kids would listen to me once in a while and still like me. Darin was kind enough to do a Q&A and share his ‘Super Cyclone’ filming experience.
‘Super Cyclone’ has a lot more destruction and special effects than your past Asylum films. How was your experience working on this film compared to past Asylum films?
DARIN: Liz Adams (writer/director) and I had worked together before on “Air Collision” so we had a short-hand method of communicating. She’d say, “This time let’s try it with a little more–” and I’d finish the sentence for her with something like, “–talent?” I think it’s safe to say that this picture came with a bigger budget so be prepared for some killer CGI sequences. I mean, seriously, a super cyclone tears the crap out of everything.
According to your IMDB you did some freelance graphic design work. Do you still dabble in that or anything similar?
DARIN: You know, it’s funny. I wanted to be an actor at sixteen after doing my first play in high school. But growing up in rural western Kansas, for whatever reason, I didn’t really believe it was possible. I went to college intending to be a comic book artist, but was led astray by my guidance counselor because he said I’d make a much better living as a graphic designer. I had never heard of graphic design up to that very moment. When I arrived in L.A. I moved to Venice and worked for three years as a commercial artist, before having to quit because acting had injected itself back into my life. The last thing I designed was the packaging on my Big And Loud videos… and a treasure map for my son’s eighth birthday party.
What inspired you to make the children construction and farm videos? Are there any plans to make more and how can parents get the videos? (Yes this question is for me since my daughters are love watching construction)
DARIN: That is awesome that your girls love construction! The idea for the videos came out of a dinner party that my wife and I threw. We invited my college roommate, Bill, and his wife for a night of food and wine. It must have been around the fourth bottle of cabernet when Bill suggested starting a business together. At that moment Big And Loud Video, LLC was birthed. As of now we don’t have any plans to make more videos, although I have several ideas if we do. Big And Loud On A Construction Site and Big And Loud On A Farm can be purchased from our website www.bigandloudvideo.com or from amazon.com. They can also be found at several hundred libraries around the country, and Canada, too.
With all your filming you appear to not have much down time, what do you do when get a break?
DARIN: Like any actor I’m looking for the next gig. Because we never know if, and when, we’ll ever work again the month or two between jobs seems like an eternity. And I also do a lot of things with my wife and kids.
In ‘Super Cyclone’ do you have any personal favorite scenes that we should pay extra attention too?
DARIN: My character is a little like the Wizard of Oz. I get to call a lot of shots from the comfort of my situation room in Camp Pendleton. So unfortunately, or fortunately, I’m not at the mercy of the Super Cyclone’s reckoning. However there is a scene that should be pretty terrific when the Venice Pier gets ripped from its moorings. Oh yeah, and when the oil tanker in its initial path is getting tossed back and forth like a Herculean rag doll. That should be epic as well.
Thank you very much Darin! Fortunately we’ll only have a short wait after ‘Super Cyclone’ before we see Darin again in ‘Hold Your Breath’ a horror film directed by Jared Cohn http://wp.me/p2eH5w-5X and written by Geoff Meed. Please check out Darin’s IMDB, Facebook page, and definitely his Big and Loud videos.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177970/
http://www.facebook.com/darin.cooper.9
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