By BRUCE DENNILL
Actor Cokey Falkow continues to build his portfolio with two high-profile projects in 2025: the recently released action thriller A Working Man starring Jason Statham, and the upcoming historical drama series Gandhi. In A Working Man, Falkow stars as Dougie, a former special forces operative working for the Russian mafia. The film, directed by David Ayer and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, is based on Chuck Dixon’s 2014 novel Levon’s Trade and features an all-star cast including Statham, Michael Peña, and David Harbour. Season one of Gandhi, created and directed by Hansal Mehta, chronicles Mahatma Gandhi’s formative years in South Africa through his emergence as a pivotal figure in India’s independence movement. Below, Falkow talks about his work.
What is the current TV show or film you’re not involved in you most wish you were starring in, and as which character? Why?
Slow Horses is a brilliant show. I would love to work with Gary Oldman! Playing a spy – or even one of the dogs – would be amazing.
Film and television work involves a huge amount of waiting around. What are your tips for staying focused and relaxed in that downtime?
It’s true there’s a lot of waiting around, but I learned early on in my career to keep focused by conserving energy between takes. When we were making the Pure Monate show way back in the day, Tshepo Mogale, Loyiso Gola, Kagiso and myself would banter away telling silly stories and improvising scenes. Nowadays I listen to music or meditate. Robert Rodriguez told me to do exercise and I find yoga works well, but when you are wearing costume and are in make-up it can be restrictive so it’s not always possible. You don’t want to be sweaty or rip your trousers by doing a downward dog…
Acting for a camera; a machine: without the energy and instant response of a live audience, what do you do to maintain the intensity or integrity of your performance?
Acting for camera is about being in the moment. It has to be truthful and real or the camera picks it up immediately. A camera can be your best friend. It doesn’t lie, and you can’t lie to it either.
Do you get a chance to appreciate what you are most struck by when watching television or film as a fan – the locations, the costumes, the cast, the special effects – when working on a project, or is all of that just peripheral detail outside of your focus on performance?
I am sometimes in awe of what production create. When you turn up on set and they have created a whole world its hard not to be transported to another place in your mind’s eye. When working on Ghandi Before India, Hansal Mehta and the team had built entire city blocks of 1800s Durban complete with rickshaws, hundreds of extras in period costume and buildings that were completely accurate. We were in Film City Mumbai, and once you were past security it was like going back in time! I am still blown away when I think back to those sets.
How important is the budget of a show or film, in your experience? Good work can be done at any level of investment, but obviously the challenges are very different…
Budget gives you freedom to create worlds, but at the same time it depends on what the project is. A lot can be done with very little if you are smart. A Working Man had a stellar producer on board with Chris Long. I spoke to him at length about this, actually, as they were making a film set in Chicago but filmed in London and surrounding areas. They built the whole bar and casino we were in on a disused military site near Basingstoke. It was incredible.
Please unpack your current project? Who is your character and why were they satisfying to play? Also, how painful is it to play a villain when Jason Statham is the hero?
I play Dougie, an ex airborne soldier and right hand man to the big boss of a biker gang in A Working Man. They served together, and when they left the military, they formed a band of outlaws. Jason is a machine! He is a very physical performer and his fight scenes are very well thought out. The rehearsals can be brutal. Luckily, the stunt team were there to support me. I had worked with a few of them before on other projects so I knew I was in safe hands. But I still hurt my back, and I was glad that Troy Kenchington could take my place in some of the shots and make me look good. He is a lovely guy. You can also see some of his stunts in the Barbie movie as Ken! The other project is Gandhi Before India, in which I play AW Baker, the lawyer that hired Ghandi and brought him out to South Africa to work on a difficult case. He was also a preacher and taught Ghandi about Christianity and the Bible. They became good friends.
