Cole Sprouse says “Riverdale” reignited his love for acting—and now he’s building a packed indie-film run by reaching out to young filmmakers, tracking roles like a fan, and staying patient with how projects find their audience.
Cole Sprouse is about to become an uncle—and the renovation chaos at his brother Dylan’s house means the whole crew will be living under one roof for a stretch. Sprouse says he’ll be sleeping on the couch “for a while.”
For an actor who has spent most of his life working in front of the camera, it’s a domestic, human detail. But it also fits the larger picture he paints of his current era: busy, intentional, and always scanning for what’s next.
Alongside his twin brother Dylan, Sprouse’s early Hollywood path ran through shared roles that helped define their childhood stardom. The twins worked together in “Big Daddy. ” became a Disney Channel force through “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. ” and even had their own merchandising brand that sold everything from clothes to comic books. Sprouse describes those years as a familiar kind of success—bankable. brand-heavy. and deeply tied to the economics of being a working child.
When the twins hit their teens, acting took a backseat. Sprouse attended New York University, where he majored in Geographic Information Systems in archaeology. Dylan majored in video game design. After college. Sprouse says he didn’t necessarily expect to return to acting—and then his manager asked him to try out for a pilot season anyway.
He agreed, with one condition: if he didn’t book anything, he wasn’t going to keep doing it. He booked “Riverdale.” And Sprouse tells it plainly—getting back onto a set was when performing stopped feeling like something he was doing and started feeling like something he loved.
Even so, he doesn’t romanticize the twin-work model as they got older. Sprouse says they weren’t consciously trying to stop working together; it just stopped fitting as they moved beyond the stage where swapping roles felt natural. He recalls that when they were very young. trading places wasn’t really about artistic direction—it was more of an economic or labor loophole. As they grew older and their careers diverged, they started doing side-by-side roles instead.
By college age. the idea of the twins running the “twin thing” again began to feel “tacky.” Sprouse also points out that twin roles are rarely interesting in the first place. saying that many of the most compelling parts for twins tend to be “prestigious actor playing both twins. ” before offering examples like Robert De Niro playing both roles and Tom Hardy playing both roles.
He’s also candid about what it meant if “Riverdale” hadn’t come through. Sprouse says he hadn’t fallen back in love with performing—at least not consciously—until he was on set. For kids who start working extremely young, he frames it as an economic pursuit first. He calls it “a sort of financial coat,” and says it takes a long time to take that coat off.
That experience echoes in how he thinks about acting now—especially as the industry has changed around social media. Sprouse says the job used to feel like “performing”: you showed up. you finished the movie. and once the project wrapped you wiped your hands clean for the most part. returning to premieres. red carpets. or a couple talk shows. Post-social media, he says, the “side salad” has become the “main part of the dish.”.
He doesn’t argue that visibility automatically equals tickets. He calls social media visibility “not natural. ” and says people weren’t “meant to be seen this way. this much.” He also questions whether the industry has fully figured out what real interest looks like for an entertainer—then adds that the conversation has been happening for years. and it’s still not settled.
Now, Sprouse’s answer to what’s next looks less like chasing fame and more like stacking his slate with independent work—many of it features. He says he’s focused on building a slate of indie films, and names recent and upcoming projects.
He was at Tribeca with David Drake’s “The Long Haul,” which stars Margo Martindale. Earlier this month. he wrapped Roxy Sorkin’s “The Hot Year.” His upcoming schedule. he says. includes Andrew Patterson’s “The Rivals of Amziah King. ” Milad Schwartz Avaz’s “Elastic Hearts. ” Oran Zegman’s “Goodbye Girl. ” Devon Michaels’ “Wake. ” and Eugene Kotlyarenko’s super-secret “Vintage Violence.”.
He makes the case for indie work in terms of risk and original scripts. Sprouse says. “In terms of original screenplays. that’s where the life is. ” and that independent projects place him around “departments and creatives” who are hungry. He ties that hunger to what he sees as an essential ingredient in filmmaking.
But he also acknowledges the privilege it takes to choose that route. Sprouse says his ability to pursue independent projects came from the financial stability he gained post-“Riverdale”—a stability he says took a long time to reach. He calls it “a privilege to be able to pursue independent film without financial consideration. ” and says he wants that acknowledged because his upbringing in the industry was “deeply connected to the financial metrics” of his life.
He’s pursuing this approach, he says, by aiming for repeat creative partnerships rather than just specific roles or narratives. He calls his post-“Riverdale” mission connecting himself to a group of young creatives he can work with “consistently and in many projects.” And he frames that work as a kind of preparation—reading. watching. and reaching out early.
Sprouse describes the most exciting part of this process as risk. and says he feels confident navigating professional spaces even when things get chaotic. He compares his goal to the “muse-like relationship” actors build with talented directors and cites the “Leo and Marty thing. ” responding with a clear aim: find two or three up-and-coming directors who are creatively locked in.
To do that, he says he trusts his taste and does his homework—reaching out early, watching everything he can, and then jumping in. He says he’s “emailing a lot of people” and adds that it requires “time and attention and homework.” Without patience, he says, it can be difficult.
His process isn’t just about optimism. Sprouse says he’s sent many emails that never got responses. But he insists he’s also receptive when the ball comes across the plate. “Sometimes you fucking smack the ball. and it really works out. ” he says—while also stressing that he has to do it without ego. He calls himself a fan. and says he will introduce himself that way: “I’m a fan… I want to work with you.”.
That fan mentality extends to how he talks about being an actor who cares deeply about control. Sprouse calls himself a control freak. and when he’s asked about whether writing and directing features is next. he says he still has “quite a bit to learn.” He says he’s directed a couple commercial spots and has done photography work. but feature-length control—how much he can retain after production is finished—is the part he thinks he needs more time for.
He also reflects on how acting itself forces surrender in practice. Sprouse says that as an actor. you’re passive within the creative process: you might have ideas for scenes or scripts. but “you’re not the one with the editor’s sword.” You don’t choose shots or performances within takes. He adds that episodic television gave him a different kind of direction—often a different director every episode—and that sometimes a take could be prioritized because the shot looked better than the performance. Building a career, he says, depends on relationships and people who have your back.
That blend of surrender and obsession shows up again when he talks about “Lisa Frankenstein.” He says it was personal to him. too. and that he came on early in the process. He and Zelda Williams had wanted to work together for a long time. and he describes their friendship as spanning “almost a decade.”.
Sprouse tells a story about what drew him to the project: as a kid. his career goal was to be “the guy in the Godzilla suit. ” and he says he didn’t understand it fully at the time—just that he wanted to play a monster. He calls the movie a high-five to that younger self. and says he was locked in when he read the script. He then says he begged Kathryn to be part of it because she’s so great.
He also addresses how “Lisa Frankenstein” landed. Sprouse says the movie “was really not successful in theaters. ” calling it “a huge financial flop in theaters. ” and he says only when it hit streaming did it become the thing audiences love now. He describes the emotional mismatch: by the time people discover a film on streaming. the crew has already grieved that the movie didn’t find its audience immediately. He frames his gratitude as a response to that delay. and adds that he’ll do conventions “every once in a while. ” including a year when half the convention hall was “just Lisa and The Creature.”.
And he brings that timing tension back when he talks about his SXSW connection to “The Rivals of Amziah King.” He says he watched Andrew Patterson’s “The Vast of Night” out of Slamdance and reached out right away, telling Patterson he would “do anything to just be a part” of his movies.
He says the role he played was smaller but impactful, and that an actor attached to it couldn’t end up making it. Patterson called him and said, “Please, I need help,” and Sprouse says he was on a plane the next day.
Sprouse then returns to the idea of “serendipity”—that if something is supposed to happen, it will. At the same time, he’s clear that groundwork matters: he calls it stacking the cards without trying to force anything. He says you can’t drag a horse to water, but you can let people know you exist.
His immediate hype, he admits, is tied to Eugene Kotlyarenko’s “Vintage Violence,” and he makes clear he isn’t sharing more yet. He says it’s hush-hush and that “they’re actively doing final cut within the next couple days,” adding that “we’ll start hearing some stuff about it, for sure.”
For readers expecting a tidy reveal, he offers the opposite: less information by design. Sprouse laughs when he says he couldn’t find much about the project. and he insists it’s on purpose—then ends with what he can confirm: Kotlyarenko is “awesome. ” and Sprouse describes the film as carrying a unique fingerprint. He also says he got to work with Sean Price Williams and calls the whole thing “really special. ” adding that he thinks people “are really going to love it.”.
Cole Sprouse Dylan Sprouse Riverdale IndieWire interview indie films The Long Haul The Hot Year The Rivals of Amziah King Elastic Hearts Goodbye Girl Wake Vintage Violence Lisa Frankenstein social media acting