‘The Walking Dead’ Breakout Cooper Andrews Talks Creating Scene Stealer Jerry and How He Found Out About the Negan Deaths

·Writer, Yahoo Entertainment

February 22, 2017 at 3:34 AM

Most important: There is more Jerry to come on this season of The Walking Dead. Actor Cooper Andrews confirmed that Jerry’s cobbler delivery to Carol in Sunday’s “New Best Friends” will definitely not be the last we see of the character who, in just three episodes and less than a dozen lines of dialogue so far, has become an instant fan favorite.

As most fans would likely cite as a reason for all the love, it’s Andrews’s smile that also sparked TWD showrunner Scott Gimple and director/EP Greg Nicotero to see the potential of Jerry as King Ezekiel’s super enthusiastic and friendly Kingdom right-hand man. Andrews, a stunt man and sound crew guy-turned-actor who’s also had roles on Halt and Catch Fire, Hawaii Five-O, and Limitless, broke down Jerry’s path to that spot on the stage beside Ezekiel, and also told us what his favorite Jerry quote is (again, so far), how much he loves Jerry’s fancy red coat (made from surprising, but appropriate, material), and offered some special insight into the Jerry/King Ezekiel relationship.

He also previewed his upcoming big-screen project (starring a real-life Gerry), and shared how the reveal of Negan’s Season 7 premiere victims was spoiled for him.

Congratulations on the Jerryness of Season 7. Are you surprised at how quickly Jerry has become a fan favorite?
Yes. Very surprised. Very appreciative, but very surprised.

Have you had fan interactions, anyone stopping you on the street or anything like that yet?
I’ve had a few, but it happens a lot at the gym. I think it’s because when I walk by people, I get looks. Looks that are just a little bit different. They stare at me for longer moments of time. I usually don’t notice that people are staring at me, but I’ve just been getting these… you can see this look that people have. They’re like, “Is that… I don’t know.” At the gym, you’ll be sitting on the bench for 10 minutes or so and people will just… you’re just looking at each other. You’re in close contact with these people. You’re trying not to stare at each other, but then you just keep looking. I had this guy, I was doing legs with my buddy. This guy comes up to me and he goes, “Oh, hey, man. Loved you on The Walking Dead last night.” I was like, “Thanks, man.” Then he finishes his set and he goes, “No, but if you see…” This was after “The Well.” He goes, “Oh, but if you see last night’s episode, you look just like that guy.” I go, “Oh, yeah. No, that’s me.” “What?” “Yeah, yeah. That is me.” “Are you kidding me? I was joking. Oh, my god. Oh, my god.” Then he just starts making this huge commotion. “Hey. Look, man. Oh my god. I think you’re hilarious.” It’ll be like that. I’ll have these moments where I just have fun with it if people recognize me. It’s just always been really welcoming and really nice from people, which I was really happy for, because Jerry is a scary character to play with.

Why is that?
I was a huge, huge Walking Dead fan. Still am. When I got the audition… they give you parts of the script that are not real. They just give you lines that fit in there, but originally I was talking to a crime boss and he had a dog named Santiago that I had to keep telling to chill. I was like, “This is The Walking Dead?” I was really, really baffled by it. I was like, “Oh, because he’s talking to the dog… oh, it’s fake. Oh, it’s a tiger. Oh. I’m talking to a tiger, not a dog.” As a fan, I was afraid just because I hadn’t seen this kind of character on the show. I knew to pull him off in this world I had to fully commit to this guy believing in the king, but also getting super excited that he gets to be onstage like a movie star with the king. Jerry’s just always super excited to be there. He’s just really happy to be part of it. I was nervous, but I really started falling in love with the character just because of how happy he got to be, how genuinely happy he got to be. I think people have believed in it, too. I don’t know where I was going with that, but that’s just the Jerry story. I do this thing where I ramble. I tell this to everybody. I just ramble and I forget where I started, but I know where I’m ending. I apologize. Did I answer the question?

Cooper Andrews as Jerry (Credit: Gene Page/AMC)

You did, and that’s great background on Jerry. Walking Dead director and EP Greg Nicotero told me he’s a huge fan of Jerry and your performance, and he said you really had a hand in the direction that Jerry took, that the character he became was based on how much everyone on set just loved your smile. Is it something that you talked about with the producers?
When I first found out about the character, [showrunner] Scott Gimple sent [the script] and said something along the lines of [Jerry] being a stoic man who can sort of pull off a little bit of danger, but he just seems tough. Just this tough guy. I played it one way, and then I had another request that I try it to be Zen-like, like Biggie Smalls. I gave that a shot. The Biggie Smalls version was the last version, but they still had me do three or four different takes on the character. When I got to the table read, I did the Biggie Smalls version. It wasn’t clicking. I just didn’t feel it. Scott was on the table read. He was on the conference call. We Skyped that night and he asked me what my opinions were of it. Then he told me, “I remembered you from an audition that you had done awhile back. It wasn’t right at the time, but the thing that I remembered was that you have this smile that is very approachable, but if you’re not smiling, you’re very scary looking. How do you feel about that?” I was like, “Yeah, that sounds like me.” I try to keep a smile on. One, because I’m usually happy, and two, because I don’t want people to be afraid of me. I like talking to people. He then said, “How would you feel if we made Jerry someone who, while in the Kingdom, is this super happy guy, but when he’s out of the Kingdom, we just make him this scary dude? When he’s at these meetings with these Saviors, what if we just toughen him up?” I was like, “Sure.” We had a back and forth of how it would come to that, but yeah, there was a lot of me trying to figure this guy out while we were there, especially when you have — again, rambling, sorry — especially when you have this dialogue. When it comes to every single thing that comes out of Jerry’s mouth, even though it’s just these few words, I thought about them hard. There’s tons of variations, because there’s so many ways that I thought could be funny, other ways that I thought were too funny. We just had to try throwing up “Deuces!” at the end. You know, the first time I’d do it, I just said, “Deuces.” I was like, “No.” What I did realize when I was reading these, I have the opportunity to have these awesome one liners. I was just thinking of how I would want this scene from somebody portraying it. I was like, “I just want to see this guy happy. This guy needs to be happy.” That’s how I decided where to take it.

What’s your favorite Jerry line so far?
The “Well said” is my favorite line at the moment. What I liked about it was that again, it was just two words, but I tried to show… he was so happy to be there, and he saw this opportunity for this pun. When I first was doing that line, I didn’t even think of the “well” part. I just thought, “Well said”… try to sound regal. Then I realized, “No, he’s trying to be clever and trying to be funny with it.” I liked it because he just showed this excitement. Khary [Payton, who portrays Ezekiel] and I, we talked about, what is Jerry like? Khary had a lot of tips on how we should play off of each other, too, which is great. Khary is amazing. He was like, “Yeah, man. I feel like you were just supposed to stand there. You’re not supposed to say a word, and you somehow start getting words out. For some reason, I can’t do anything about it. It’s just how it is.” It was more like, “Alright, Jerry. We have people coming. Keep your mouth closed, please.” Then I just have to sneak it in.

Greg Nicotero said it makes him think of George Costanza on Seinfeld every time Ezekiel says “Jerry!” to him. Does it remind you of that, too?
Yeah. Every Jerry, from Jerry Springer to Jerry Seinfeld. Every time I hear the name, I just think of all these things. Even when I walk in somewhere, people will be like, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” I just crack up.

What is Jerry and Ezekiel’s relationship really like?
We’ve had quick conversations with Greg and with Scott [about] how Jerry should be almost like a representation of what the Kingdom is. This happy place, this happy man, who follows the customs, even if they’re not… he wouldn’t fit in back in Shakespeare’s day and with the kings of England, but he tries to make it still a kingdom, even if it’s not this conventional kingdom. Then when he’s outside the Kingdom, he’s there to help. He has a bag when he’s carrying the… when they’re walking up to Carol’s house, you notice that he has this giant ax. What’s in that bag is an oversized thing of cobbler… but when he’s out on these patrols, he’s not there to kill. He’s out there to help. The ax is just a representation of how he is. It’s just more to protect than to conquer or to take. I love that the Kingdom is like that, and I think Ezekiel sees that in Jerry and keeps him close.

Cooper Andrews, Khary Payton, Lennie James, Logan Miller, and Kerry Cahill as Dianne (Credit: Gene Page/AMC)

The idea that Ezekiel sees him as a representation of what the Kingdom is maybe helps explain why Ezekiel is reluctant to join in with Rick’s plot against the Saviors. Of course he would want to protect this place that he sees, as represented by Jerry, where you can still be happy in the apocalypse.
Yes. I loved his point of view and his reasons for not joining the fight. The fan in me, of course, is like, “Come on, man. Don’t you know who the Saviors are? Come on!” Realistically, [the Kingdom] has tons of food they can provide for guests. They’re not just getting by. They’re thriving. But it’s a delicate balance. Being king is always hard.

What’s your favorite Jerry wear? We’ve seen him so far in his armor, that turtle-like armor they all wear when they go to the meetings with the Saviors. Then he has that grand red coat that he wears onstage with Ezekiel.
Oh, my gambeson. It’s a gambeson, which were worn as padding under knights’ armor. Because armor was hard and metal, they needed this protective padding, which could also in itself be used as an armor. Even though it’s not a real gambeson, the idea is I would… I don’t know if they would show it, but if a walker were to try and bite it, in theory, they shouldn’t be able to get through the jacket. I think it’s still a theater gambeson. That theater is so hot. The lights are so hot. This gambeson is pretty much made out of sound blankets or moving blankets. We call it that. I used to be a boom operator. I used to do sound, so the joke is, “Oh, so now you’re just wearing the sound blanket?” It’s like, “Yes.” I loved wearing it, even when it was the summer, and it was 90 degrees, and I’d be sweating clean through the thing, because we’re onstage and they were using actual stage lights. They were just hot as hell. The stage we were on was probably 15, 20 degrees hotter than the rest of the auditorium. Between takes, Khary and I would run to an air conditioning tube. They had these giant tubes for the air conditioning, and we would just stand by it and cool off. He would take off his jacket and leave it on his throne, so that the lights wouldn’t cook the wood. The throne got really hot one time, just from the camera lights. But yeah, my favorite outfit is, hands down, that gambeson. I love it. I wish I could just wear it at all times. I think it really says to the world that he is in the Kingdom. “This is what Kingdom people wear. Welcome.” And I love that color. I loved everything about it.

It must be extra cool to get to create this character from scratch, since Jerry’s not in the comic book.
Yes, I love that I got to be a part of creating this guy, and him just doing his thing, not having to be set to a destiny necessarily. It’s so much fun because it really is like, “Well how would I do it?” Not, “How was it done?” I really like being able to be a part of forging what this guy does. There are some days, if I’m having a bad day, I’ll just think, “Man, you’re on The Walking Dead. You’re on your favorite show. What are you complaining about?” Then I’m just like, “Nothing.”

While you were filming your first episode, “The Well,” did you know what was going on with the cliffhanger, who Negan’s victims were?
Abraham was one of my favorite characters. All these people were my favorite characters, but at the time, he was my [most] favorite character. I didn’t know it was him and Glenn until [filming] last week’s episode [“Rock in the Road”]. When Morgan [was asked who was killed] … filming was on our side. The cameras were looking at us [on the stage]. I’m just devastated. I’m like, “What?” On the sides, it just said victim number one and victim number two. In the rehearsal, they still said victim number one, victim number two. Then on the actual shooting day, I find out. They didn’t put it in the edit, because it would be like, “Why is Jerry upset about hearing these two names?” But that’s how I found out they died, from that first take. I didn’t want to know until the [premiere]. Then during that scene, I was like, “No!”

You’re working on an upcoming heist movie, too, right? Den of Thieves?
Yeah. I’m horrible at doing these [descriptions], but it’s a heist movie about this guy who is stuck in between these bad dude sheriffs and these bad dude bank robbers. I’m part of the group trying to pull off this heist at a federal reserve. My character, he does a lot of the comm work, trying to get communications going. I get to have fun with this character, as well. He’s a lot tougher than other characters I’ve played, but he still has to do things that are comedic, which I am looking forward to. A lot of it is some voice changing and stuff like that, trying to sound like different people. It’s going to be cool. And, that cast [which includes Gerard Butler, 50 Cent, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Pablo Schreiber] … I’ve been so lucky with every cast I’ve worked with. The cast was so, so nice. Just really cool guys. I watched 300 so many times… Gerard Butler. Who is also a Gerry. I think that people named Jerry are just cool.

It’s the name.
My takeaway. It’s the name. Yeah.

You’ve mentioned your background is unique. You describe yourself as being “Samoan Jewish”?
We call it the Samoan Jews. My mom, [Jeanette], was in the Peace Corps. She went to MIT, and didn’t know what she wanted to do afterwards, so she joined the Peace Corps. That’s where she met my father… I guess she was pregnant with me within that time. She’ll kill me. “You said what?!” No, my mom, she raised me Jewish. I didn’t know my dad. She is this awesome person. She’s my best friend. So, yeah, Samoan Jew. We’re on the quest to see if there are more in the world. I’m hoping to find some.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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‘The Walking Dead’ Breakout Cooper Andrews Talks Creating Scene Stealer Jerry and How He Found Out About the Negan Deaths