On Dec. 12 actor Chris Cooper appeared at the Directors Guild of America following a free screening of the new film Adaptation., in which he portrays real-life Floridian orchid poacher John Laroche. Cooper's colorful, effective performance has garnered him awards from the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which both named him Best Supporting Actor.
The event, presented by Back Stage West as part of the publication's "Evening With" series, drew a large crowd of actors and fans interested in hearing about Cooper's approach to his latest role and to his work as an actor.
As Cooper acknowledged, his Adaptation role is a striking departure from his previous screen credits; he is best known for playing rather contained, laconic characters in such movies American Beauty and October Sky. As Laroche, Cooper masterfully proves his ability to play a larger-than-life character while juggling the comedic and tragic tones in the film.
"It's a kind of character I performed onstage years ago," noted Cooper, who spent close to 14 years working as a theatre actor in New York and in regional theatre before getting cast in his first feature film role, in the 1987 movie Matewan, written and directed by John Sayles. Sayles has since cast him in two other films, City of Hope and Lone Star.
As the actor shared, he does not consider himself great at auditions but has learned over the years to come as prepared as possible. Cooper told actors, "The people that are looking to cast you don't want to guess. So I figured, Work up a whole performance. Show them what you can do. Don't leave them guessing."
He has also learned to have more fun with the casting and the acting processes. He told the DGA audience he's never had as much fun on a film as working on Adaptation. and particularly enjoyed collaborating with co-star Meryl Streep, who portrays The New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean.
"Meryl taught me a whole lot by saying very little," said Cooper. "I have a tendency as an actor to beat myself up if the scene work is not going well, and I remember early on in the shoot a scene [in which] we had just done a take or two and things weren't going right, and I was kind of mumbling to myself. And I hear this little voice behind me, and it's Meryl saying, 'Stop whining.' It really helped me loosen up. I'm pretty serious when I'm doing the work, but I had tremendous fun working on this."
The next event Back Stage West will present will be a Jan.7 screening of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, with a post-screening interview with star Sam Rockwell and director/co-star George Clooney, at the ArcLight Theatres in Hollywood. There will also be a Jan. 10 screening of Antwone Fisher, with star Derek Luke answering a Q&A, at the DGA. Both events are free. For more information, click on the links.