Via Zoom: Filmmaker/Actor Clare Cooney on Her New Short ‘Pick Up’

Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2021 - 8:50pm

CHICAGO – Although this former Chicago-based actor has moved on to Los Angeles, she continues as a filmmaker with her excellent second short, “Pick Up.” Clare Cooney wrote, directed and is featured in this poignant journey, as two ex-lovers figure out their current status in the midst of the world pandemic.

Clare Cooney is Nina, doing one of the great favors of humanity – picking up her ex-boyfriend Greg (Chris Rickett) at a Los Angeles airport. The short film is set in pre-vaccine pandemic, so both passengers are masked up and even begin the drive with windows rolled down. As their conversation deepens, their caution lessens, and soon windows are rolled up and masks are removed, physically and metaphorically.

Clare Cooney On Set and Poster Image (inset) for ‘Pick Up’
Photo credit: Clare Cooney/Omeleto

Clare Cooney is a native of Detroit, and graduated from Notre Dame University with a degree in Psychology and Theater. She moved to Chicago to pursue acting, and also has attended the School at Steppenwolf. She has also appeared (and worked as a casting director) in three feature collaborations with filmmaker Michael Glover Smith, “Mercury in Retrograde,” “Rendezvous in Chicago” and the recently filmed “Relative.” Her previous short film ”Runner” is the story of Becca (Cooney) who witnesses an event while out on a run, and the implications keeps haunting her for months. Clare Cooney currently resides in Los Angeles.

In a two-part interview via Zoom, Clare Cooney talks to Patrick McDonald about filming “Pick Up” about and during the pandemic, plus other adventures in show business, followed by the full film of “Pick Up.”

In PART ONE, on the origin of “Pick Up” and developing chemistry with her co-star …