Actor Chris Cooper has had a long and very successful career playing serious characters in film and on stage. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the film, “Adaptation,” with Meryl Streep. He is also known for his roles in “A Time to Kill,” “October Sky, American Beauty,” “The Bourne Identity,” “Seabiscuit,” “Capote,” “Syrianna,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “Little Women,” among many others.
Cooper has two upcoming films: “Everything's Going to be Great with Bryan Cranston” and “History of Sound,” both due out in 2025.

He and his wife, actress Marianne Leone, recently came to the studio in Manhattan to participate in Howard Schatz's project, "Portraiture and Video Interviews of Actors on Acting."

Cooper: I got into this business purely for, for selfish reasons. I got so damn irritated with my shyness and how it was inhibiting me. And I wanted to express myself, you know. Missouri kid, come to New York. Live in Hell's Kitchen, uh, of all places.

My set up is read the script 50 times, make no judgements about the character that you're going to play. Get a good sense of the rhythm of the play.

Schatz: What does that mean, make no judgements about the character?

Cooper:: You have to develop the character. And I have to search my personal history to align myself with what may have happened similarly to the character,

Schatz: Aren't there characters who you have not personally experienced within yourself?

Cooper: Absolutely. Sure. Sure. That's where imagination comes in. I think you have, I think, basically, you have three tools to deal with as an actor. Your research. Your imagination for those things that, um, aren't immediately available emotionally, or that you have to dream up. And life experience.

Cooper: Come really prepared, have some strong ideas. And if you're not right, quite on the track with the director, make adjustments. You're cast because the director thinks you can do, do the role. So, initially, I want them to leave me alone and just watch, you know, see what I've come up with.

Schatz: How did you find this monstrous character in “American Beauty?”

Cooper: That was a really, really, frightening character. Rewrites started to come in, uh, once I had, uh, been cast. And the scenes got darker and darker and darker. And there was a whole back story that I incorporated that wasn't included finally in the, in the cut. But we had scenes where my character, Colonel Fitts, as a marine in Vietnam, had a male lover. That's just something that, uh, he desperately had to hide. And so, I'm having real trouble getting, getting to the root of this character. I found a way to develop his self-hate.

Schatz: Do you take parts home? How deep does it go?

Cooper: To some extent. I mean, uh, I don't think I want to put that on Marianne, my wife. And I don't think she'd put up with it, too much if I brought my character home.

Schatz: Why don't you do more Broadway?

Cooper: Uh, man. [Laughs]. It's, uh, quite a workout, it is. And, and, uh, I went back to Broadway, uh, 2017. To do this Doll's House part two, Answer to Henrik Ibsen's, uh, first play, um, The Doll's House. The property was bought and it was unfinished. And the producer knew that there were gonna be rewrites. And there were rewrites throughout rehearsal, through preproduction. And when I say in preview, I'm talking about a paying audience, full house sitting in preview, and we're still learning new lines each, each, each night. And you get, rewrite that night, you better nail it the next night.

Cooper: And it got pretty hairy for me. Uh, I was, it got to the point where I wasn't sleeping. And I know for a fact that there was a period where I didn't sleep for 61 hours and I began to hallucinate and, and I told the producer that I, I was in trouble, I needed help. He got right on it. They got me a shrink, they got me a sleep therapist. Marianne to come from Boston to New York and spend a couple of days with me and settle me down.

And, um, once we got over the hump of, of freezing the lines and me getting the proper sleep I needed, it was fine. But come to find out for actors, dancers, singers on Broadway, this is so common, people's emotions get pretty, pretty strong, you know, high strung. You've got to put on a performance, eight performances a week. And, uh, that becomes pretty serious to me.

I would say this. I would say this has always been the case. I may do it, I may go back, uh, to the stage, but it better be a damn good role. That's, that's the, that's the stipulation.

CREW CREDITS:
Talent: Chris Cooper
PhotoBook Editor-In-Chief: Alison Hernon
PhotoBook Creative Director: Mike Ruiz
Photographer by Howard Schatz
Interview by Howard Schatz
Tearsheets by Daniel López, Art Director, PhotoBook Magazine
Location: New York City on January 6, 2025

Chris Cooper photographed and interviewed by Howard Schatz