In August: Osage County, the movie based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Tracy Letts, Chris Cooper plays Uncle Charlie, a calm presence amid the explosive dynamics of an Oklahoma clan that comes together during a crisis. The movie’s release in theaters is, appropriately, Christmas Day. VF Daily spoke with the Oscar winner about being emotionally ready to play a father (to none other than Benedict Cumberbatch) after losing his own son, and reuniting onscreen with Meryl Streep.
__VF Daily:__How did you get involved with August: Osage County? Did you go after the role of Charlie? Did they come to you?
Chris Cooper: Yes. Several years before—I live in Massachusetts—this film calledThe Company Men that John Wells directed was shooting in Boston, and I honestly don’t know if it was for convenience’ sake, or what, but Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones were attached, and I was asked to come aboard. So I assume that having worked with John previously, that’s why he approached me about August.
Was there anything about the Uncle Charlie character that you especially liked?
What I liked was here is a rare example of a film where I didn’t have to do a bunch of research. So much of this felt, like, at my fingertips. I had a son that we lost in ’05, he had severe disabilities. Neurologists said that, at his young age, he would never be intellectually normal; he proved them wrong. He lived to be 17, he was studying Latin the last two years of his life, and we were making plans for what are we going to do for college for this boy. So it’s at my fingertips time and time again that my son had to prove himself to others who didn’t see him as whole. So for this work with Benedict [Cumberbatch] as Little Charlie, enough time has passed that I felt it was O.K. to work with those emotions. And along with that, I grew up four hours from where we shot this film, and on a period where I had several days off, I drove up to the Kansas-Missouri line to visit my mother. My father and I raised cattle in Kansas in the 60s and 70s, and that life is very familiar, the country is familiar. So what I’m saying is, once in a while, a role comes along that just kind of fits like a glove, and you don’t have to beat yourself up and do all kinds of research and deep digging; it was just very visceral, and developing a love for this boy, and [feeling like a] protector.
What was it like working with Benedict Cumberbatch? Had you met him before?
I had not met him before. People I was speaking to were kind of surprised. Good God, I mean, I know this boy’s career, I’ve followed it; I’ve watched several episodes of Sherlock Holmeson TV, I saw him in War Horse, and in this beautiful piece he did with Rebecca Hall [Parade’s End]. Certainly I know this kid’s work. And he’s very articulate, obviously, very intelligent. He’s a very...oh gosh—very courteous, very warm, smart young man.
What was it like to work with Meryl Streep again, after you worked together in Adaptation?
I just count myself so lucky. You know it’s a great start when you have a Pulitzer Prize—winning play, and [that] the first two people that they approach are Meryl and Julia kind of speaks for itself. I adore working with Meryl. She’s a great girl, she’s a great mom, she’s so normal, and a great host; delightful, very inclusive in her work, obviously. She has a beautiful way of demanding the best of you, because she’s going to give you her best, and you want to give her your best, too. There’s no slouching around.
When you say she’s a great host, do you mean she acted as sort of the center of the ensemble when you weren’t on-camera?
Undoubtedly. Meryl and Margo [Martindale] and I hung out quite a bit and had a lot of dinners, and you would think we would be above it all, but no. We gathered together on the porch and talked about the work that day, what we accomplished, what we think maybe didn’t work, and who we were working with, and, you know, still questioning, still interested in our business to the point where that’s the conversation when the day was done.
