Sporting surgical masks over three piece suits and top hats on set for the better half of 2020 saw co-stars unable to see each other’s faces while rehearsing. Cocquerel says he found solace in filming for The Gilded Age in the “importance of chemistry offset and camaraderie onset.”
“It was a very difficult to work with so many new actors but not be able to take our masks off until the cameras were rolling. We weren’t seeing each other’s faces for most of the day until we were actually rolling and then we had to adjust instantly – it was definitely a different experience,” he shares.
The actor, who grew up between Paris, Texas and Sydney, cemented his space in the world of Indie film darlings, previously staring alongside Anna Kendrick in Table 19, Jennifer Garner in Tribes of Palos Verdes and Taron Egerton in Billionaire Boys Club – to name a few – Cocquerel’s refined both his performance and preparation for characters on a global scale. That was until, he says, he had to “time travel” for his latest project. 
“Before we started rehearsing, we actually had etiquette classes,” he shares, listing the slew of lessons he was subject to, including learning how to walk with a cane, sit for dinner – and rigorous hat tipping instructions.
“We went into rehearsals to understand the time period, the context in order to make these characters relatable and accessible to a modern audience.”
While conversations about the industrial revolution, and the affairs of famed railroad tycoons seem far from the public consciousness in today’s context, Cocquerel’s character, Tom evokes among the most resonant journeys of them all: falling in love. And in his case, rather quickly.
“It was a very intimate storyline, you know, he is flirting and he is in love. It was all there,” Cocquerel shares.
His love story with Marian Brook (Jacobson) thrust Cocquerel into a dating sphere that’s a far cry from the current climate of swipe-rights and Hinge dates.

A lover of the natural world, between camping and surfing, fleeting moments of stillness in Cocquerel’s career push him to other pursuits. Recently directing his first short film Un Homme et Un Chat, the actor remains “thankful for those quiet moments” to flex new muscles within the industry and pursue his passion for storytelling.
When asked where the passion first manifested, Cocquerel’s nomadic childhood is a poignant starting point. Growing up across Australia, Western France and Texas, he was educated in a French school – his father’s heritage – while in Houston, and spent seven years in the French school system.
“I was good at picking up languages and changing accents,” he reflects.
“Pretending I was a cowboy one minute and a little French Persian boy the next was how I grew up. So the acting thing – it makes sense,” Cocquerel explains.
“It certainly goes into why I went into acting – I think growing up and having to change countries and languages so often, you always had to adapt to new cultures and morph and transform. That’s part of the game.”
It’s such an adaptability, that could make a French-Australian actor adopt a New York accent and swan so comfortably into a world that existed two centuries before he was born.
BF: Final question for you. Are you ready?
TC: “Yo, hit me.”
BF: Is it easier to play a character with your actual name?
TC: “I feel like he’s cheating. And I feel like people probably think that I’m not that good an actor because I needed one with my own name to do it.”
Still, as far as signs go and destiny is concerned, Cocquerel maintains playing Tom, “just felt right”.

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_{SIDE-NOTE acknowledges the Eora people as the traditional custodians of the land on which this project was produced. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this.}