Driven to distraction
There are certain skills that an actor will list on their resumé, these are their special skills.
They might reveal that they can ride a horse, or are trained in ballroom dancing. Some kick-boxing experience might come in handy if they’re up for a role in an action movie.
Sam Cotton managed to add a pretty important life skill to his resumé in the nick of time.
“I got my driver’s licence about two months before this job,” Cotton said.
Granted, it’s not as specialist a skill as kick-boxing or ballroom dancing, but considering Cotton was going for the role of an Uber driver, it was pretty essential.
He stars as Ben Phillips, the real-life author behind the blog and e-book Diary of an
Uber Driver which has been made into a new ABC comedy-drama series.
But Cotton is keen for people to cut him some slack when they watch the show.
“You might notice, in the show when I go to park they do a really clever edit and you won’t see me park, because I can’t park. So that was a challenge,” Cotton said.
Luckily for Cotton, driving isn’t really the point to the drama. This is about his character Ben and his passengers, and how their interactions affect his life.
“Beck (Zahra Newman) is Ben’s old flame who is pregnant with his child, and I think he looks to his passengers to offer him a lesson that he can draw upon to help him navigate his impending fatherhood,” Cotton said.
“So he takes a bit from every passenger and that teaches him something about where he’s going next in life. That’s what the fascinating thing is about this show.”
Ben has a smorgasbord of experiences to choose from as different characters hitch a ride in his car.
“Because it’s an Uber and he’s picking people up, he’s constantly getting glimpses into other people’s lives, and so in this one show we’re able to tell a multitude of stories – and how different people can be who are living right next to each other in the same city,” he said.
Anyone who has ever treated the Uber driver like he’s not there should probably pay attention to this show which highlights just why that’s a bad idea.
“In the first episode, there’s a woman who sits in the back and is on the phone having a very private conversation with a friend and my character, Ben, is completely invisible to her,” Cotton said.
“So he just sits there and gets this insight into this crazy, very personal story.
“He also picks up drunk people, and some people start making out and getting a bit frisky in the back. It gets a bit serious at times.”
It’s a very original concept, made all the more interest- ing by the fact that these are e based on Ben Phillips’ real encounters in his car. Cotton even got to meet Phillips to learn a bit about the man behind the steering wheel.
“When I met Ben he had this approachable energy to him and I could see why people had opened up to him so much,” he said.
“I think in the first few minutes of speaking to him I’d told him my life story. He’s got this quality about him.
The show has truth but also real heart, as Cotton’s character picks up all these sweet and hilarious tips on life.
It’s had an effect on Cotton in real-life too: he can never really look at an Uber driver in the same way again.
“I’ve always had an empathy for Uber drivers because I thought about doing it before I got a part in this show,” he said.
“But now, after doing the show, I can’t help but quiz them on the different things that have happened in their car because you know these people have so many stories to tell.”
The trials and tribulations of a real-life Uber driver have been turned into a new TV series. Sam Cotton tells DANIELLE MCGRANE what it was like playing a real character and the life lessons to be learnt from the Diary of an Uber Driver.