I would venture to say that Chris Cooper is one of the most respected actors in and out of Hollywood today. He started his career with John Sayles in the film Matewan and slowly built a career doing more films with Sayles such as City of Hope and Lone Star. Then in the 90s his oeuvre really took off with Me, Myself & Irene and Breast Men then it all culminated in his Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Adaptation in 2002.
Now he is starring in his first John Sayles movie since the Oscar win as Dickie Pilager, the bumbling local politician who is running for governor of Colorado in Silver City.
Check out the website for Silver City
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Chris what have you been up to lately?
Chris Cooper: Im going to Baltimore to work to with Stephen Gaghan who wrote Traffic. Its the first film hes directing called Syriana.
DRE: Its actually his second film.
So the character you play in Silver City is probably the dumbest character youve ever played. Do you have that feeling about him?
CC: I just think hes a strong believer in what hes doing. Hes got this whole born again thing. Pretty obviously hes stumbling along in politics but first and foremost he believes.
What made a whole lot of sense to me and was put in a nutshell by John to me was when he said that Dickie Pilager was a man who doesnt have the imagination to consider his beliefs seriously and what that entails. That said a whole lot to me. He can be passionate and really not know what he is talking about.
DRE: Did you do much studying to get the character down?
CC: Im a bit of a news junkie and I watch too much news so these politicians are in my face everyday. This was one of those situations where I didnt have to beat myself up with the research. Its there in your face everyday.
DRE: Did you watch any older GW Bush footage?
CC: No I didnt do that because its not an impersonation. If it were I would have done a better job. There is no doubt there will be some recognizable bits in this character. It was a lot of fun with a character I can relate to.
DRE: There are a lot of great male roles in Silver City. What made you pick the part of Dickie?
CC: John originally came to me with the intention of playing Kris Kristoffersons character of Wes Benteen. That was fine with me. If John requests my services and I can then I will be there at anytime. A good month or so later he got Richard Dreyfuss as the manager which was a big relief which gave him a good age range of the other characters.
DRE: Since this is your fourth time working with John, how much of crime do you think it is that he has to fund his movies himself?
CC: It hurts. What attracted me to Johns work early on is the maturity of his subjects. Hes a mature writer and hes not playing to the 16 to 22 year old mentality. Its a horrible pity that he has to fight so hard for his audience when he has such interesting, unusual and insightful material. Id like to go to the movies but Im a 50 plus year old guy and I just cant find that much stuff that is interesting and thats another $8.50 that the independents and the studios arent getting.
DRE: I would have loved to have heard about some of the political conversations you and the rest of the cast would have had.
CC: Getting picked up from the hotel in the van there was Kris and Richard who are two guys that are politically active going back to the 60s. I wish I could remember specifics of it but it was always political talk. We were busy during shooting so our heads and hearts were in the movie.
DRE: Its been seven years since you last worked with John. Was it a different experience in any way especially since you won your Oscar?
CC: I think it averages out to one movie every five years. Its not different at all. I think we have a great working relationship. John depends primarily on his casting so he depends on his actors coming to set with strong ideas. There is no rehearsal time in a Sayles film other than the blocking rehearsal. If you want to talk about a particular point that bothers you then he will talk about it for a few minutes but time is money. The Oscar has changed nothing. Its always what is in the script.
DRE: What do you attribute to your recent success?
CC: Im very happy with my choices but frankly I take my work, maybe seriously isnt the right word, but I have a great respect for this business. There are things I hate about it and things I love about it. If I am given the responsibility of playing a character Im constantly working on that script to help better develop the character. I take the work seriously but its a thorough utter joy in what I do. The only thing that keeps me interested and keeps my respect about the business is my work ethic.
DRE: Is it difficult for your work ethic to come into play when you are working on a huge Hollywood movie like The Patriot? There are probably script changes all the time.
CC: One of the most frustrating jobs was The Bourne Identity. The script was unfinished and we would get to the end of a 16 hour day and we didnt know whether we were going to shoot the next day because the scenes hadnt been written. That was consistent from day to day. But then its very interesting that you find a way to work into that. The actors really find another way of working together because this material is coming at the last minute and help each other just to memorize the lines. It was a nightmare. But its just something you have to deal with.
DRE: Were you surprised at the end result?
CC: I was very surprised. I think it came across very well. I think it was a little more of an intelligent film for that genre. I was pleased but it was [producer] Frank Marshall that saved the day for that film. They were more prepared for the second film.
Ive been approached to do films that I knew were going to be huge box office hits and they were. I would be rolling in money today because of them but I said no. Down the road someday I may be some superhero figure.
DRE: How do you pick your scripts?
CC: Something just strikes me. I think Im pretty much open to any film. It always begins and ends with whats on the page. I dont know if its the Oscar or what but right now the approach is We have this script and if youre interested but have some problems then well develop and rewrite it. Im not a writer and I dont know the first thing about improving a script. If its a finished script and its interesting then Im interested. I dont understand all this development business. I have been talked to like that a lot of times and all I can picture is that Im being forced into a corner. Theyll give me this ethereal thing if I commit and Im not about to do that. If Im not familiar with the director or the writer I will look them up on the IMDB to see what theyve done before that can tell you a lot. I think its essential to see what youre getting into. Also I want to know what other actors are attached and do I respect their work. There are a few things I like to consider.
DRE: Obviously John set the bar for you in terms of screenplays, how does a Charlie Kaufman screenplay compare?
CC: Charlie Kaufman is kind of a shadow figure. He was at the initial reading and he was lurking around occasionally during the shoot day. Its also unusual that a writer is invited onto set as Charlie was. Other than hello how are you, that was about all that was said. I respect him but hes a very shy individual. Hes done his work on the script so I think he knew his place once the cameras started to roll.
DRE: How do you feel about you getting so much attention for Silver City but Danny Huston is the star?
CC: Im a little surprised. I thought perhaps I would be not even asked to do any PR because Im not the star.
DRE: I guess your name may give the movie more attention.
CC: Will it?
DRE: How has your life changed after winning the Oscar?
CC: It has not changed one bit. I flew home to Massachusetts after that delightful and surreal evening but thank god life went right back to normal. I think the nice thing is that I dont live in Los Angeles; the business is not part of my everyday conversation and my friends are carpenters, historians and teachers. We have a lot of other things to talk about besides the film business.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Now he is starring in his first John Sayles movie since the Oscar win as Dickie Pilager, the bumbling local politician who is running for governor of Colorado in Silver City.
Check out the website for Silver City
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Chris what have you been up to lately?
Chris Cooper: Im going to Baltimore to work to with Stephen Gaghan who wrote Traffic. Its the first film hes directing called Syriana.
DRE: Its actually his second film.
So the character you play in Silver City is probably the dumbest character youve ever played. Do you have that feeling about him?
CC: I just think hes a strong believer in what hes doing. Hes got this whole born again thing. Pretty obviously hes stumbling along in politics but first and foremost he believes.
What made a whole lot of sense to me and was put in a nutshell by John to me was when he said that Dickie Pilager was a man who doesnt have the imagination to consider his beliefs seriously and what that entails. That said a whole lot to me. He can be passionate and really not know what he is talking about.
DRE: Did you do much studying to get the character down?
CC: Im a bit of a news junkie and I watch too much news so these politicians are in my face everyday. This was one of those situations where I didnt have to beat myself up with the research. Its there in your face everyday.
DRE: Did you watch any older GW Bush footage?
CC: No I didnt do that because its not an impersonation. If it were I would have done a better job. There is no doubt there will be some recognizable bits in this character. It was a lot of fun with a character I can relate to.
DRE: There are a lot of great male roles in Silver City. What made you pick the part of Dickie?
CC: John originally came to me with the intention of playing Kris Kristoffersons character of Wes Benteen. That was fine with me. If John requests my services and I can then I will be there at anytime. A good month or so later he got Richard Dreyfuss as the manager which was a big relief which gave him a good age range of the other characters.
DRE: Since this is your fourth time working with John, how much of crime do you think it is that he has to fund his movies himself?
CC: It hurts. What attracted me to Johns work early on is the maturity of his subjects. Hes a mature writer and hes not playing to the 16 to 22 year old mentality. Its a horrible pity that he has to fight so hard for his audience when he has such interesting, unusual and insightful material. Id like to go to the movies but Im a 50 plus year old guy and I just cant find that much stuff that is interesting and thats another $8.50 that the independents and the studios arent getting.
DRE: I would have loved to have heard about some of the political conversations you and the rest of the cast would have had.
CC: Getting picked up from the hotel in the van there was Kris and Richard who are two guys that are politically active going back to the 60s. I wish I could remember specifics of it but it was always political talk. We were busy during shooting so our heads and hearts were in the movie.
DRE: Its been seven years since you last worked with John. Was it a different experience in any way especially since you won your Oscar?
CC: I think it averages out to one movie every five years. Its not different at all. I think we have a great working relationship. John depends primarily on his casting so he depends on his actors coming to set with strong ideas. There is no rehearsal time in a Sayles film other than the blocking rehearsal. If you want to talk about a particular point that bothers you then he will talk about it for a few minutes but time is money. The Oscar has changed nothing. Its always what is in the script.
DRE: What do you attribute to your recent success?
CC: Im very happy with my choices but frankly I take my work, maybe seriously isnt the right word, but I have a great respect for this business. There are things I hate about it and things I love about it. If I am given the responsibility of playing a character Im constantly working on that script to help better develop the character. I take the work seriously but its a thorough utter joy in what I do. The only thing that keeps me interested and keeps my respect about the business is my work ethic.
DRE: Is it difficult for your work ethic to come into play when you are working on a huge Hollywood movie like The Patriot? There are probably script changes all the time.
CC: One of the most frustrating jobs was The Bourne Identity. The script was unfinished and we would get to the end of a 16 hour day and we didnt know whether we were going to shoot the next day because the scenes hadnt been written. That was consistent from day to day. But then its very interesting that you find a way to work into that. The actors really find another way of working together because this material is coming at the last minute and help each other just to memorize the lines. It was a nightmare. But its just something you have to deal with.
DRE: Were you surprised at the end result?
CC: I was very surprised. I think it came across very well. I think it was a little more of an intelligent film for that genre. I was pleased but it was [producer] Frank Marshall that saved the day for that film. They were more prepared for the second film.
Ive been approached to do films that I knew were going to be huge box office hits and they were. I would be rolling in money today because of them but I said no. Down the road someday I may be some superhero figure.
DRE: How do you pick your scripts?
CC: Something just strikes me. I think Im pretty much open to any film. It always begins and ends with whats on the page. I dont know if its the Oscar or what but right now the approach is We have this script and if youre interested but have some problems then well develop and rewrite it. Im not a writer and I dont know the first thing about improving a script. If its a finished script and its interesting then Im interested. I dont understand all this development business. I have been talked to like that a lot of times and all I can picture is that Im being forced into a corner. Theyll give me this ethereal thing if I commit and Im not about to do that. If Im not familiar with the director or the writer I will look them up on the IMDB to see what theyve done before that can tell you a lot. I think its essential to see what youre getting into. Also I want to know what other actors are attached and do I respect their work. There are a few things I like to consider.
DRE: Obviously John set the bar for you in terms of screenplays, how does a Charlie Kaufman screenplay compare?
CC: Charlie Kaufman is kind of a shadow figure. He was at the initial reading and he was lurking around occasionally during the shoot day. Its also unusual that a writer is invited onto set as Charlie was. Other than hello how are you, that was about all that was said. I respect him but hes a very shy individual. Hes done his work on the script so I think he knew his place once the cameras started to roll.
DRE: How do you feel about you getting so much attention for Silver City but Danny Huston is the star?
CC: Im a little surprised. I thought perhaps I would be not even asked to do any PR because Im not the star.
DRE: I guess your name may give the movie more attention.
CC: Will it?
DRE: How has your life changed after winning the Oscar?
CC: It has not changed one bit. I flew home to Massachusetts after that delightful and surreal evening but thank god life went right back to normal. I think the nice thing is that I dont live in Los Angeles; the business is not part of my everyday conversation and my friends are carpenters, historians and teachers. We have a lot of other things to talk about besides the film business.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
erin:
I would venture to say that Chris Cooper is one of the most respected actors in and out of Hollywood today. He started his career with John Sayles in the film Matewan and slowly built a career doing more films with Sayles such as City of Hope and Lone Star. Then in the 90s his oeuvre really took...
enigma_entity:
I really do like Chris Cooper. In a society where real quality acting is so much rarer than someone who has one type of character that is just like they are in real life is really depressing. I like the type of actor or actress who can play a wide variety of roles and really come across as a commited actor or actress. Chris Cooper is one of those, along with Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton. Hey, someone should try and do an interview with Edward Norton and Johnny Depp. That would rock! Looking forward to see silver city when it comes out. Until next time...