Entertainment
On opening weekend for “The History of Sound,” Kingston’s Chris Cooper talks about choosing roles and his path from shy ranch hand to Oscar winner.
Chris Cooper tells me he has a “history of being selective” when it comes to choosing roles.
“Very selective,” he adds with a laugh in our recent phone interview from his Kingston home, making his wife, writer/actor Marianne Leone, laugh in the background.
From Tom Smith, the horse trainer in “Seabiscuit,” to Stephen MacRay, Ben Affleck’s jailed dad in “The Town,” or, my favorite, the partially-toothless orchid-loving eccentric John Laroche in “Adaptation” — there are certain roles that just feel like Cooper roles.
A character actor’s character actor, roles like these — from quiet complex thinkers to dyed-in-the-wool oddballs — are the Oscar winner’s bread and butter.
I love Cooper’s acting for the same reason I love John Prine’s songwriting. He steps into people. Has an uncanny knack to tap into an artery, some motherlode vein, to bring characters intricately, deftly, to life in all their human quirkiness and vulnerability — unaffected salt-of-the-earth artists who anthem the emotional nail on the head with few gestures.
So I can see where director Oliver Hermanus was coming from when he read South Dartmouth musician/author/general store owner Ben Shattuck’s “The History of Sound,” and thought: Cooper.
“Didn’t have to ask twice,” Cooper, 74, tells me. “I jumped at the chance. This is my kind of story. This is the kind of thing that got me interested in film in the first place. This is what I live for.”
It’s a smaller part, but if you’ve read the story, you know why Cooper couldn’t turn it down.
The titular story in Shattuck’s brilliant short collection, “is singular, subtly tender, ripe for Cooper. Shattuck, husband of Milton native Jenny Slate, also wrote the screenplay.
Set in New England circa World War I, two Boston Conservatory track students, Lionel and David, fall in love, and spend one summer together recording and preserving old folk tunes, ostensibly collecting the history of sound on phonograph tubes. Cooper plays the older Lionel; Paul Mescal plays the younger Lionel. Josh O’Connor plays David.
The story is told from the older Lionel’s point of view, as an 85-year-old man in Cambridge, looking back. Older Lionel has much less of an on-screen presence — but the amount of screen-time doesn’t matter to Cooper when considering a role.
“Chris has never been somebody who’s like, ‘This is too small a part for me,’” Leone, 73, told me recently. “I remember when he did ‘The Town.’ It was one scene. Ben Affleck was on some late night show saying, ‘I was nervous to ask him.’ I thought: ‘You had him at prison, homie.’”
When I previously interviewed Cooper’s wife, actor/author Marianne Leone — she played Christopher’s mother in “The Sopranos” — she told me something that stuck in my head as the ultimate Cooper anecdote.
“I remember when he was doing ‘Adaptation,’ he’d be wearing those teeth around the house,” she said, referring to the missing-teeth prothetic he wore in the film. “When he’s immersed in a character, the real Chris recedes a bit. He’s dogged about studying. He’s a much harder worker than I am. He loves the research as much as he loves the performance.”
That Spike Jonze-directed film, written by Charlie Kaufman, was released when I was a sophomore in college. I was mindblown. It’s still a favorite. When I think of Cooper, I still think of that scene when he’s driving the pick-up truck: “Mom and I had the largest collection of 19th-century Dutch mirrors on the planet. Perhaps you read about us? Mirror World, October ’88?”
You can fake a lot of things in life, but you can’t fake soul. People can smell it on you — an innate thing. Cooper and Leone got soul. You feel it as soon as they start talking.
Horror and “dumb comedy” scripts are passed over in this South Shore house, Leone has told me. (“There’s a reason we live in a raised ranch and drive used cars: so we can do whatever we want.”)
The couple moved to Kingston in ’94, for their son Jesse’s education. Jesse, who died in 2005 at age 17, had cerebral palsy. He was nonverbal, quadriplegic, and a gifted poet. Leone wrote about their son’s life and death beautifully in books, including 2024’s “Five-Dog Epiphany.”
“You’re infantilized in this business,” Cooper tells me. “You’re treated like queens and kings, and people can [laughs] kind of take that seriously. But Jesse was our anchor. Jesse was a wise young man, and he showed us what was important in life. He was a great teacher.”
As Leone once told me, “I don’t think he loves the business part of acting. The year he won the Oscar [for “Adaptation”], his hair had been dyed white and shaved back for ‘Seabiscuit,’ so nobody recognized him on the red carpet. He was in heaven.”
I’m calling their home ahead of the opening weekend for “The History of Sound,” which debuted at Cannes in May. Cooper attended a film screening in Plymouth on opening night, Sept. 19, and answered audience questions afterwards. The film is in select theaters today.
Meanwhile, Leone just released “Christina the Astonishing,” a hilarious Boston-set Künstlerroman, with laugh-aloud dialogue. Cooper and Leone read from the novel, partly drawn from Leone’s coming-of-age in Newton, in a string of upcoming events, including Sept. 24 at Earfull at the Regattabar in the Charles Hotel; and Sept. 25 at Booklove in Plymouth.
Before we hung up, Cooper, ever the researcher, told me: “We’re getting ready for events this week. I gotta go brush up on my reading.”
While I called, ostensibly, to talk to Cooper about his acting, it feels right to add Leone’s voice here. You can’t truly get at the heart of one without mentioning the other. They’re two trees that have grown around each other, their stories intertwine too much. (“I think we’re the random-access memory for each other,” Leone sums up.)
That said, here’s more of my conversation with Cooper — with Leone chiming in where noted.
So what drew you to the part of Lionel?
Oh, my God. I— are you familiar with Ben Shattuck’s writings?
Yes, and I loved that collection.
And that’s it. Jaime Clark and Mary Cotton, who run Newtonville Books, brought Ben and his wife, Jenny Slate, together with Marianne and I. We shared a lunch. I absolutely love his writing. It’s just comfortable, comfortable reading. He’s like a writer from another time.
Then we hear “History of Sound” is going to be a film. Ben wrote the script as well, which is very unusual. He did a beautiful job. It’s truly an art film. It takes its time beautifully. And I just want to preface that I don’t feel it was indulgent. The scene-work really takes its time. I open it with a narration, observations of the old Lionel. Then I have about 10 minutes at the end.
I can see why they reached out to you. It feels like a Chris Cooper-type of role. What draws you to a role?
Well, it’s real simple. I was brought up on film work from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s — that involves person-to-person, dealing with another actor. Although I’ve been talked into doing some pieces I’m not thrilled with — superheroes and all that. I’m not into explosions and car chases. I dare say, I’m a little serious-minded about my choices.
[Marianne from the background]: You do like comedy.
Hmm, yeah, OK. Marianne’s prefacing that I do like comedy, but certainly, I tend to be cast in other roles.
I loved you as John Laroche in “Adaptation.”
And that’s curious, because, as Marianne mentioned: comedy. That was a slightly comedic role. Those scripts don’t come my way too often.
You mentioned traveling to flower shows to study for “Adaptation.” It sounds like you put in a ton of time into research.
I think of it more as a security blanket. I surround myself with the history of this guy, and makes me feel like I know something. Some roles are closer to myself than others.
Like the horse trainer in “Seabiscuit.”
That’s a situation where I brought life experience. I did ranching in the ‘60s and ‘70s. We lived in Kansas City, Missouri, but my dad had a cattle ranch over in Kansas. All that stuff involving farming and ranching was very helpful. It’s in my blood.
As a kid, you wanted to be a singer.
Oh, man, yeah. I was lit about the crooners — Johnny Mathis, Sinatra, Tony Bennet. My sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Sheffield, recognized my shyness. She pulled something out of me, got me to the stage singing. With an audience’s applause, I found: “Hey, I really like this.” Then I found I had this great desire for acting. At the University of Missouri, I got serious and started auditioning for plays.
In ’74, I moved to New York, got into an acting class with a wonderful teacher, Marianne was a student. We got assigned a scene together: Eugene O’Neill, “Mourning Becomes Electra.” The rest is history.
Marianne laughs in the background: Well, our history.
You also did carpentry work.
I had a hip-high toolbox on wheels; I’d take the subway. Word spread on the Upper East Side, where the wealthy apartment owners were. In New York, if you hire somebody, they’ll spend half a day, be gone three days, come back whenever. I dedicated one job at a time from beginning to end. And my name spread like wildfire.
[laughs] I love it.
Marianne: Let me hop on for a second. Lauren, I knew he’d forget to tell you this. I quit my horrible temp job to be his helper. I once overheard Chris saying, “When I saw Marianne carrying sheetrock up eight flights of stairs, I just knew: that was the mami for me.”
[laughs] Classic. So you two eventually married and moved to Massachusetts for Jesse.
When Marianne became pregnant, we moved to New Jersey to find a street-level apartment. When Jesse was 6, New Jersey made it kind of clear they didn’t want to offer with Jesse. They didn’t have inclusion. Thank God, Marianne, having grown up in Massachusetts, was familiar with what was available here. Massachusetts was ages ahead of Jersey as far as inclusion. We moved here in ’94, had a couple of hurdles. Then Jesse flourished. He was an honor student — a smart, smart boy.
How did Jesse help you in your art, in terms of taking roles or looking at fatherhood?
Oh, man. [pause] He was of huge import, and I won’t get too personal about what I drew from, but he [long pause, clears throat] was an important part of my development as an actor. He fed me in some roles. I don’t want to be too specific.
In more general terms, what was it like moving to Massachusetts?
Oh, man. Originally, I kind of freaked out.
[laughs]
I thought, “I gotta be close to the business.” Oddly enough, as soon as we moved here, my career took off exponentially. today I love it. I’m thrilled with living in Massachusetts. Marianne is close to her family, which I adore. It’s a really young, smart state.
You’ve been in some Boston movies, “The Town,” “The Boston Strangler,” “Company Men.” What drew you to “The Town”?
I only do one scene, but it’s wonderful writing. I think that was the first time I worked with Ben Affleck. For research, I went to Walpole Prison and spent about five hours with prisoners. Then I went up this spiral staircase to just observe. I spent about 20 minutes looking at these boys, thinking, “My God. How long have they been there? How long will they be there?” It shook me up. It was really powerful.
The Boston accent is so hard for outsiders to get right— but you really nailed it.
Ben provided me with three different guys, who had done time, all had a distinct accent. I chose one that worked for me. People talk about “Oh the Boston accent, everybody gets it wrong.” But I think it worked out. Having lived here since ’94, I’ve absorbed it. I talk to my brother on the phone, and he’s like, “You don’t sound like a Missouri boy anymore.”
[laughs] You mentioned being “serious-minded” in selecting roles. How did you end up in “The Muppets” (2009)?
That took some coaxing.
[laughs]
My agent said, “Damn it, you are going to do this.” Marianne and I, we completely missed the Muppets. I didn’t know how popular it was. But man, I had a ball doing that. And today I can say I worked with Mickey Rooney. Interview has been edited and condensed. Lauren Daley can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagram at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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