Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) English actor Christian Cooke, who essays the role of Chess legend Garry Kasparov in the streaming series ‘Rematch’, has deconstructed his process behind approaching the part.
The actor said that he read a lot of books, and watched some of the documentaries about the world champion. He also shared that he finds a lot of similarity between him and Garry in terms of focus and work ethic.
Talking about how they approached the series, Christian Cooke said, “The benefit is that it’s not an original story, it’s based on something that actually happened. The writing follows the historic event as its foundation and so that’s really what we were doing. We were telling a real piece of history about something that happened. It’s great when you can do it; because what’s more dramatic than real life. I think that we didn’t need to worry about that too much because the match happened and there is a lot to draw upon and as an actor you are just trying to follow the arc of the writing, the character. How is it mapped out in the script and you’re really just breaking it down day by day, scene by scene and you’re thinking about each moment as a whole”.
‘Rematch’, which is a psychological thriller, and explores how a supercomputer beat the greatest chess mind alive. It presents the showdown between Garry Kasparov and IBM’s pioneering supercomputer Deep Blue.
Talking about his preparation, he said, “So I read a lot of books, I watched some of the documentary about Kasparov which was made about when he played Deep Blue called ‘Garry Kasparov – a man vs Machine, the BBC made, which was a great source of research and I think there is similarity just in terms of focus and work ethic. And, you have to be quite tenacious as an actor to keep pursuing it and keep striving to be better and to challenge yourself. I think when you are a chess player you’re on your own with that as well. It’s like you just have to keep focus and keep going and keep sharp, which is the same thing I get as an actor”.
The match was a turning point that blurred the line between human brilliance and artificial intelligence, sparking a global debate still relevant in today’s AI-driven world. The series is directed by Yan England, and also stars Sarah Bolger, Aidan Quinn,, Tom Austen and Trine Dyrholm in key roles.
The show is set to drop on Lionsgate Play on July 18, 2025.
–IANS
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