In Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch, Christian Coulson plays Victor, a seemingly sadistic fashion designer living in 1970s New York, whose transgressive creative outbursts are only overshadowed by his utter lack of empathy for others, in particular his so-called muse Esme (Tonya Glanz). But there is a relatively warmer side to Victor that manifests itself as the ghostly companion of a modern-day slacker (Miriam Silverman) who finds herself in opposition to anything related to capitalism, and lets herself to slowly be seduced by the vision of the world Victor sells her. As the play jumps back and forth in time, the one truly brilliant constant in Coulson’s performance; not only does he seem to be having the time of his life onstage, but he also clearly delineates the traits that make these two sides of Victor almost completely different characters.

The English actor gained worldwide notoriety for having played Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and has played small but key parts in films such as Love is Strange and TV shows like The Good Wife. Coulson also has an extensive theater resume that includes turns in David Eldridge’s adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg & Mogens Rukov’s Festen, as well as having played Osvald in an adaptation of Ibsen’s Ghosts. I had the opportunity to talk to the charming Coulson about his work playing the narcissistic Victor, as well as the designers he drew inspiration from, the elements that attract him to the characters he plays and we even discussed some Mozart.

You’re pretty much a New Yorker by now, so what are some of your favorite spots or places where you relax before heading to the theater?

(Laughs) There’s an amazing ramen place at the end of the street from the Cherry Lane Theatre, where I’ve been eating at a lot, and coffee! My entire New York life is based around where I can get decent coffee.

What about your pre-show rituals?

I like to get there early and stretch, and eat a good hour before. Some people don’t like to eat before the show, but I need fuel. I also like to show up and hang out with the people, I like to walk around onstage before they open the house, just so I can be out there before getting in front of the audience.

In your performance as Victor, I could swear I saw some Yves Saint Laurent, some Karl Lagerfeld and some Marc Jacobs even. Did you base your performance on any famous fashion designers?

Oh, that’s very interesting. There’s a lot of influence in the writing, and historically there’s a lot of Halston. But the people I was personally looking at were English designers, because Victor was always going to be English if I was playing him, and so McQueen was very important. I’ve always been interested in his work, so I watched a lot of documentaries about him, but there was also inspiration from people from that moment in the 70s, people like David Bowie and Mick Jagger. I studied them as well, I think it’s interesting that a lot of fashion designers don’t dress elaborately, but some people like Galliano or Gaultier you don’t see them in t-shirts and jeans, they’re always wearing their outlandish creations, so I wanted to look at designers who dressed extravagantly.

Basically you’re playing two different characters, there’s this version of Victor from the 70s, and then this ghost version of Victor haunting this modern woman.

Interestingly with the haunting one, although it’s in the present day, based on things that Victor says, he comes from a time before he was a designer. It’s clear in the script that this Victor hasn’t even met Esme yet, he’s just only making clothes for himself, he hasn’t started designing.

Did you have to approach these scenes like you were playing different characters?

The relationships are so different between the two periods so that helped define two different sides of him, but to me they’re all part of the same person. Where the character is emotionally put me in different directions for each scene, and Victor is so influenced by people around him that being in scenes with different actors really propelled me in different directions.

I’ve seen your work throughout the years, and I admire how you always seem to bring a sense of a character’s entire history, even if you only have a few scenes, like in Love is Strange for example.

That’s so nice, thank you. That’s like the thing that I most want to hear.

Mostly I wanted to pick your brain and see if you had a formula to achieve this…

I don’t know how to answer that other than, I feel like I ask a lot of questions for myself, so that it feels like you’re showing up and “doing”, in Love is Strange for example, my experience was showing up and playing with Alfred Molina in these lovely scenes that Ira Sachs had written that were just so rich. We played off each other and he gave me so much, I felt like I understood who the person was in those scenes. I guess that what you’re asking is a description of the mystery of acting and there’s some sort of magic in it. I’m really glad you felt that way though.

Do you try to find elements of yourself in the characters you play? In The Good Wife for example you played a filmmaker, now you’re playing a designer, and it seems as if you’re attracted to characters with creative professions.

I feel like even in the audition process where you walk in and you show the director your idea of the character, and it’s definitely true that when I relate to something, the character is going through, I can paint a richer picture and it’s more likely that they will ask me to play the role. I would say that all the roles that I end up playing, even if I’m struggling, I will find something I can relate to, not so that I’m just playing myself, but because it’s a way in emotionally for me. There are so many actors in the world, so for me to be cast in a specific role is because I’m bringing something of my own experience.

Do people still come up to you and go “oh my god, it’s Voldemort!”?

(Laughs) Not very often, but occasionally a child of 9 or 10 will look at me with wide eyes, and I’ll guess that’s why they’re doing it. It’s such a privilege to be involved in something that so many people have seen and have such strong feelings about. In fact I love it when people want to talk about that, it’s a very validating feeling as an actor.

I’m asking because I felt that there were many aspects of Victor that make him seem quite villainous. Just in that first scene, he completely destroys that poor model!

(Laughs) To me in that scene, Victor is having so much fun, even though he’s angry, that it’s enormous fun to play. I’ve also played parts that were particularly unpleasant and they were not about having fun, so that can be a very different experience. I’m drawn to characters that don’t feel the need to be liked necessarily, I’m also curious about parts that have anger running through them. I have to say in Everything You Touch, it is fun to go onstage and wear those clothes, and express myself so freely.

I’ve noticed you’re quite the physical actor, have you ever done any slapstick?

I did actually, in a play I did a few years ago called Travesties, where I played Tristan Tzara, I got to do a lot of vaudeville routines, and I’m also in a company called QWAN where we do very silly live versions of movies, it involves basically the stupidest jokes you can think of. I do get some opportunities to do that.

You’re like a jack of all trades, who does everything from acting to photographs. Do you find that you prefer one activity more than the other?

I don’t think that’s true, but I’m glad I give that impression (laughs). Acting is my love and I really enjoy the process of filming, I love being onstage in front of an audience, but I love the craft of being one of like a hundred people creating something that goes on film. Last year I went to Nantucket and made a movie for eight weeks and there’s something really lovely, almost monastic about getting up in the morning and just focusing on that every day. Very slowly and steadily building a story, I really love that, how complete and immersive it is.

I read somewhere that Amadeus is your favorite movie.

Hmm. I would say that it’s probably my third favorite, Chinatown would be my favorite.

Now you've ruined my question…

(Laughs) OK, let’s pretend... Amadeus is my favorite movie!

Thanks, so would you think of yourself more as a Salieri or a Mozart?

I played Salieri when I was a child, weirdly at school. Actually I think Sir Tom Hulce’s performance in Amadeus is my favorite performance, I think his performance as Mozart is one of the great, truly extraordinary pieces of film acting that is not given the attention it deserves, and is probably my favorite performance to watch over and over. I identify with both those characters, but at my age Mozart would be more fun.

I think Victor is a perfect combination of those two characters.

Yeah! That’s funny. I like that observation, you’re on it!

Now I’m curious though, what would be your second favorite movie between Chinatown and Amadeus?

Well, it would be a tie between Toy Story or My Own Private Idaho. The first Toy Story specifically.

Everything You Touch is now playing at The Cherry Lane Theatre. For tickets and more click here.