Emory Cohen stars opposite Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn, and he’s brilliant. But we’ll never stop thinking of him as that kid from Smash.

Hypable attended the premiere of Brooklyn at the BFI London Film Festival this week, and had a chance to speak to male lead Emory Cohen. Cohen is best known for his roles in Smash and The Place Beyond the Pines, and usually finds himself playing the tough and/or bad guy characters.

Related: Exclusive: Brooklyn author Colm Toíbín reveals Eilis’ fate, teases next novel

But in Brooklyn, the 25-year-old New York native plays Tony, a young Italian-American who sweeps Saoirse Ronan’s Eilis off her feet when she arrives from Ireland, and finds herself facing a new life in the charming 1950s-era NYC.

Catching Cohen on the red carpet in Leicester Square, we asked him how it feels to play the romantic lead for once (and, uh, gave him fashion tips):

He also told us about his favorite scene to shoot, and why he identifies with the character (additional reporting by Laura Patricia Jones):

And, of course, we had to ask about that Smash musical Bombshell, which was announced as being in development earlier this year.

In Smash, Cohen played Leo, and was one of the few characters not involved with the play-within-the-show. He would therefore be unlikely to be asked back for the Broadway musical — but maybe he’d know something we didn’t! (Turns out, that’s not the case.)

Cohen assumed that our interviewer was a big fan (hey, #byfansforfans), but didn’t seem all that interested in revisiting this particular past project. Considering the fact that his character wasn’t exactly very well-liked in Smash, we don’t blame him.

Brooklyn premieres November 4, 2015. You can read our spoiler-free review of the movie here, and check out our interview with Saoirse Ronan.