Note to self: always turn your recorder on before you enter the room with an interview subject, or you’ll inadvertently cut off the first part of the interview. That’s what happened with Scott Cooper, the director of the Oscar-winning Crazy Heart and now Out of the Furnace, the new revenge drama starring Christian Bale as Russell Baze, a good man with a checkered past who fights to retrieve his brother, or at least the body of his brother (played by Casey Affleck) from a dangerous drug dealer played by Woody Harrelson. All I can tell now is that I was describing myself – rather cheekily – as “as child of the cinema, born and raised.”
What follows is Scott Cooper’s response and the interview that commenced, covering his early days as a cinephile, the opportunities he turned down post-Crazy Heart in order to make Out of the Furnace, managing audience expectations and which deleted scene he’s intentionally keeping off of the DVD/Blu-ray release.
Scott Cooper: Well, I was born and raised in a small town in Virginia. But you know, you shelled yourself away in darkened theaters when you can. Certainly as a kid it was always a dream to come out here and make films.
CraveOnline: What sort of theaters did you have? Just the one?
A very small one theater, and then my father’s VHS and LaserDisc. That was my film school because I could never really afford film school. I found myself watching the masters with the sound off and understanding how they tell a story with just the camera.
Did someone give you that advice, or did you figure that out on your own?
I figured it out on my own, and then, because I couldn’t go to film school and then I read that other people had done the same thing, who also – perhaps also due to economics – couldn’t go do the same thing. And then I steeped myself in biographies and autobiographies and every interview that John Cassavetes [had given] or John Ford, Orson Welles or Bogdonavich or Coppola, Scorsese, Malick… That was really my autodidactic film education. And you know, it’s only my second film and I hope to continue.
You seem to be doing okay at it.
Well, I mean, you never know. I don’t read film criticism, at least my own, and I’m sure a movie like this will certainly meet with criticism, but as Francis Coppola said, if you aren’t taking great risks why are you directing film?
Why are you directing film?
Because I feel like my worldview is underrepresented.
Yeah?
Yup. Well, my cinematic worldview. If you look at the great films of the Seventies, those great men who were directing those films were really influenced by what was happening in the world, whether it was government paranoia, the Vietnam War, all those sort of things. Racial intolerance. After Crazy Heart, which found moderate success, I was presented with an array of options I’ve never seen before in my life. I could have taken a much less risky route for my next film but it was important to me to shine a light on what we Americans have been experiencing these past five turbulent years: an economic crisis, soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and have suffered Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and can’t assimilate back into life very easily, the fact that we live in a very violent nation. So I wanted to really kind of thread all of that very subtly into a very personal narrative, and this is what I came up with?
What other options were presented to you? What other directions could you have gone in, realistically?
Oh, countless.
Did they offer you superhero movies or something?
Yeah.
Really? What did they offer you?
Well, I can’t tell you or then I sound like a douchebag.
Well, I’m curious. Did you think you couldn’t do that?
I had no interest in it. I don’t see, for better for worse, and I probably should… But when you have two kids you value your time, and I just had no interest in seeing movies that I feel like I’m never going to get those two hours back.
Or in your case, a year-and-a-half or more.
Oh sure. I would rather go to the Aero or The Egyptian or to The New Beverly and see movies that I’ve only ever seen on LaserDisc, that I can now see a print of. That’s much more important to me, because continues my film education. Because unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to direct films, for the most part, outside of the spotlight. When your first film is well received, it’s that burden of expectation. That’s always tough whether you’re a songwriter or a…
Are you feeling that?
Absolutely. Very self-imposed, but I have to say what’s gratifying is when you have those cinematic heroes, whether it be William Friedkin who hosted my Director’s Guild Q&A, and who had said things about the film that I will never forget, that makes you feel like you’re doing it for the right reasons.
That was for Crazy Heart or Out of the Furnace?
That was for this one. [Last] Sunday night. Or Michael Mann, or people that you’ve long admired, who embraced the film in ways that you had hoped. Or Jeff Bridges, who’s a very, very tough and cynical critic, to see the film and say the things he said. Or Robert Duvall. You feel like you’re doing it for the right reasons because if movies like this don’t find a home, or if audiences reject it, or critics… you’re going to have more sequels and comic book movies. Which for some people is probably great!
