Most actors, especially when pushed, will admit that one of the toughest parts of the job is delivering exposition. And this year, television’s Mvp of doling out key plot points to the audience is unquestionably Chris Cooper, the veteran character actor anchoring the narrative of Hulu’s “11.22.63.”
Read More: Review: Hulu’s ‘11.22.63’ Brings Us Some Great Grand Storytelling
As diner owner Al, Cooper only spent two weeks on the set of the limited series based on Stephen King’s 2011 novel. But those two weeks were exclusively devoted to filming an intensive series of scenes between him and James Franco. Franco plays Jake, the young man who Al tasks with the quest to save JFK via a mysterious time portal in the back of his diner — and over the course of the series, it’s Al’s advice to which Jake constantly returns.
Earlier this year, IndieWire sat down with both Cooper and showrunner/executive producer Bridget Carpenter to discuss the evolution of “11.22.63.” And when IndieWire pointed out just how much of Cooper’s dialogue was exposition, especially in the show’s earlier episodes, Carpenter laughed.
“Yes, that’s totally true,” she said. “He was like, ‘Really Bridget?’ Believe me, he was well aware of that. He was like, ‘I’m the mouthpiece for everything.’ And I’m like, ‘I know. You’re the one who knows everything.'”
But Carpenter chose not to see exposition as a dirty word, especially given the quality of the actor behind it. “Who do you want to have expose [the plot] more than Chris Cooper? So, I was like, ‘That’ll be okay. He can talk for a while.’ He was amazing — he was really, really gracious about it. Because those scenes are harder to play than other scenes, because you have to be present and emotional and I’m telling you these things we want the audience to know.”
For Cooper and Franco, those two weeks on set were almost like being in a play — especially since Franco was pretty much the only cast member Cooper had any direct involvement with, and they were basically limited to two specific locations.
“James and I worked pretty solely together, out of the diner and out of my JFK room at my home. It’s kind of where most of the scenes happen between he and I,” Cooper said. “I went in the day before with Kevin [MacDonald], the director, who wanted to show me the set — we wanted to discuss how to move around it. It was such a brilliant set. Within five minutes, it told you where to move. It told you the different areas you could work.”
And according to Carpenter, those two weeks on set with Cooper and Franco were truly memorable: “[Those days] are days that I don’t think anybody on the crew or the set would ever forget. Chris Cooper would start to talk and you could hear a pin drop.”
What did those scenes give Carpenter as showrunner? “[They get] two great actors to get to look into each other’s eyes. That’s really special. And It’s really amazing to get to be with actors who are at the very height of their game. And it’s not nothing to them. They’re not shrugging and going on. It’s electric.”
One of “11.22.63’s” most memorable moments, on a performance level, comes during one of Al and Jake’s earliest scenes — when Al tells Jake in the first episode, “I need you to go back there and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy.” You couldn’t ask for a more blatant example of exposition, so focused and simple that in the hands of a weaker actor, it could be impossible to sell.
And Carpenter agreed about the line’s necessity. “We’re giving you the thesis of the series right here. Here’s the thesis. Focus up.”
“But you care,” she added, “because it’s Chris Cooper.”
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Related storiesLaverne Cox On How 'There's A Little Performance in Gender,' From 'Orange is the New Black' to 'Rocky Horror'How They Created Lady Gaga's Countess From 'American Horror Story: Hotel' (Emmy Watch)Why 'Game of Thrones' Is An Emmy Season Frontrunner -- Screen Talk, Emmys Edition...
Read More: Review: Hulu’s ‘11.22.63’ Brings Us Some Great Grand Storytelling
As diner owner Al, Cooper only spent two weeks on the set of the limited series based on Stephen King’s 2011 novel. But those two weeks were exclusively devoted to filming an intensive series of scenes between him and James Franco. Franco plays Jake, the young man who Al tasks with the quest to save JFK via a mysterious time portal in the back of his diner — and over the course of the series, it’s Al’s advice to which Jake constantly returns.
Earlier this year, IndieWire sat down with both Cooper and showrunner/executive producer Bridget Carpenter to discuss the evolution of “11.22.63.” And when IndieWire pointed out just how much of Cooper’s dialogue was exposition, especially in the show’s earlier episodes, Carpenter laughed.
“Yes, that’s totally true,” she said. “He was like, ‘Really Bridget?’ Believe me, he was well aware of that. He was like, ‘I’m the mouthpiece for everything.’ And I’m like, ‘I know. You’re the one who knows everything.'”
But Carpenter chose not to see exposition as a dirty word, especially given the quality of the actor behind it. “Who do you want to have expose [the plot] more than Chris Cooper? So, I was like, ‘That’ll be okay. He can talk for a while.’ He was amazing — he was really, really gracious about it. Because those scenes are harder to play than other scenes, because you have to be present and emotional and I’m telling you these things we want the audience to know.”
For Cooper and Franco, those two weeks on set were almost like being in a play — especially since Franco was pretty much the only cast member Cooper had any direct involvement with, and they were basically limited to two specific locations.
“James and I worked pretty solely together, out of the diner and out of my JFK room at my home. It’s kind of where most of the scenes happen between he and I,” Cooper said. “I went in the day before with Kevin [MacDonald], the director, who wanted to show me the set — we wanted to discuss how to move around it. It was such a brilliant set. Within five minutes, it told you where to move. It told you the different areas you could work.”
And according to Carpenter, those two weeks on set with Cooper and Franco were truly memorable: “[Those days] are days that I don’t think anybody on the crew or the set would ever forget. Chris Cooper would start to talk and you could hear a pin drop.”
What did those scenes give Carpenter as showrunner? “[They get] two great actors to get to look into each other’s eyes. That’s really special. And It’s really amazing to get to be with actors who are at the very height of their game. And it’s not nothing to them. They’re not shrugging and going on. It’s electric.”
One of “11.22.63’s” most memorable moments, on a performance level, comes during one of Al and Jake’s earliest scenes — when Al tells Jake in the first episode, “I need you to go back there and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy.” You couldn’t ask for a more blatant example of exposition, so focused and simple that in the hands of a weaker actor, it could be impossible to sell.
And Carpenter agreed about the line’s necessity. “We’re giving you the thesis of the series right here. Here’s the thesis. Focus up.”
“But you care,” she added, “because it’s Chris Cooper.”
Stay on top of the latest TV news! Sign up for our TV email newsletter here.
Related storiesLaverne Cox On How 'There's A Little Performance in Gender,' From 'Orange is the New Black' to 'Rocky Horror'How They Created Lady Gaga's Countess From 'American Horror Story: Hotel' (Emmy Watch)Why 'Game of Thrones' Is An Emmy Season Frontrunner -- Screen Talk, Emmys Edition...
- 6/16/2016
- by Liz Shannon Miller
- Indiewire
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Our Us chums have seen Hulu's 11.22.63, now airing on Fox in the UK. Here are their spoiler-free thoughts on the Stephen King adaptation...
Spoiler Alert: President John F. Kennedy died on November 22, 1963 and nothing Stephen King can write will ever change that. Oh maybe he’ll change it for a little while, but it will change right back if you ever come out of the closet. That’s the basic premise of Hulu’s miniseries on the best-selling 2011 Stephen King novel 11/22/63.
“If you do something that really fucks with the past, the past fucks with you,” Warns diner owner Al Templeton, played by Chris Cooper, to his casual friend, the local high school English teacher Jake Epping, played by James Franco. Templeton has a tendency to age in spurts, not the regular acceleration of ageing that comes when the body ages, but in three-year-spurts that happen in about two minutes.
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Our Us chums have seen Hulu's 11.22.63, now airing on Fox in the UK. Here are their spoiler-free thoughts on the Stephen King adaptation...
Spoiler Alert: President John F. Kennedy died on November 22, 1963 and nothing Stephen King can write will ever change that. Oh maybe he’ll change it for a little while, but it will change right back if you ever come out of the closet. That’s the basic premise of Hulu’s miniseries on the best-selling 2011 Stephen King novel 11/22/63.
“If you do something that really fucks with the past, the past fucks with you,” Warns diner owner Al Templeton, played by Chris Cooper, to his casual friend, the local high school English teacher Jake Epping, played by James Franco. Templeton has a tendency to age in spurts, not the regular acceleration of ageing that comes when the body ages, but in three-year-spurts that happen in about two minutes.
- 4/11/2016
- Den of Geek
New York Film Critics Awards: Best Film winner 'Carol' with Cate Blanchett. 2015 New York Film Critics Awards have enlivened Oscar race Catching up with previously announced awards season winners that will likely influence the 2016 Oscar nominations. Early this month, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their Best of 2015 picks, somewhat unexpectedly boosting the chances of Todd Haynes' lesbian romantic drama Carol, Clouds of Sils Maria actress Kristen Stewart, and László Nemes' Holocaust drama Son of Saul. Below is a brief commentary about each of these Nyfcc choices. 'Carol' Directed by Todd Haynes, starring two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Blue Jasmine) and Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel The Price of Salt,[1] Carol won a total of four New York Film Critics awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay,...
- 12/14/2015
- by Mont. Steve
- Alt Film Guide
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
By Terence Johnson
Managing Editor
As much as we talk about the stats and trends of the Oscars, each year of the awards seems to present us with a new piece of history. This year, Dallas Buyers Club could make history as the first film to win both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a film that did not receive a Best Director nomination. While Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto seem to be locked into their wins, this did provide an interesting jumping off point to look at the recent history of this category.
Here are the films in the past 25 years that have managed a Best Actor and Supporting Actor nomination:
1989: Driving Ms. Daisy – Morgan Freeman and Dan Ackroyd
1991: Bugsy – Warren Beatty and Ben Kingsley/Harvey Keitel
1992: Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman
1992: The Crying Game – Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson
1993: Schindler’s...
Managing Editor
As much as we talk about the stats and trends of the Oscars, each year of the awards seems to present us with a new piece of history. This year, Dallas Buyers Club could make history as the first film to win both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a film that did not receive a Best Director nomination. While Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto seem to be locked into their wins, this did provide an interesting jumping off point to look at the recent history of this category.
Here are the films in the past 25 years that have managed a Best Actor and Supporting Actor nomination:
1989: Driving Ms. Daisy – Morgan Freeman and Dan Ackroyd
1991: Bugsy – Warren Beatty and Ben Kingsley/Harvey Keitel
1992: Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman
1992: The Crying Game – Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson
1993: Schindler’s...
- 2/28/2014
- by Terence Johnson
- Scott Feinberg
efilmcritic Erik Childress's wonderful annual list of Blurb Whores of the Year
THR August Osage County wins big at the Capri festival in Italy, winning four prizes. Harvey Weinstein and Chris Cooper were also honored at the festival. In non Weinstein awards they honored 12 Years a Slave, Saving Mr Banks, and The Great Beauty as well as Valeria Golino (remember her?) as European actress of the year
EW Downton Abbey on the cover. Can't wait for its return this weekend
Variety 3 time Oscar winning producer Saul Zaentz (Amadeus, Cuckoo's Nest and The English Patient) has passed away
i09 Disney Princess themed lingerie from Japan!
Mnpp vicious but true takedown of Ron Howard's Rush
Cinema Blend The Rock for a new iteration of Green Lantern? There are worse ideas, casting-wise I suppose but DC movies are so hopeless!
The Guardian finds that The Wolf of Wall Street uses the naughty F word 506 times,...
THR August Osage County wins big at the Capri festival in Italy, winning four prizes. Harvey Weinstein and Chris Cooper were also honored at the festival. In non Weinstein awards they honored 12 Years a Slave, Saving Mr Banks, and The Great Beauty as well as Valeria Golino (remember her?) as European actress of the year
EW Downton Abbey on the cover. Can't wait for its return this weekend
Variety 3 time Oscar winning producer Saul Zaentz (Amadeus, Cuckoo's Nest and The English Patient) has passed away
i09 Disney Princess themed lingerie from Japan!
Mnpp vicious but true takedown of Ron Howard's Rush
Cinema Blend The Rock for a new iteration of Green Lantern? There are worse ideas, casting-wise I suppose but DC movies are so hopeless!
The Guardian finds that The Wolf of Wall Street uses the naughty F word 506 times,...
- 1/4/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Have you heard the one about the theft of Nicolas Cage's copy of "Action Comics" #1? If not, you'll hear all about it soon: it's being turned into a movie.
The Hollywood Reporter has the news that "Reno 911!" creators Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant are writing a Lionsgate heist comedy centered on Cage's stolen "Action Comics" #1 and the "group of nerds" who committed the crime. Pretty damn awesome, if you ask me. Less awesome is the word that Cage is "unlikely" to play himself in the film, and that Jason Statham has likewise turned down the opportunity to get in on the fun.
Look, I'm a big fan of Nic Cage, specifically when the man is at his craziest. So I have some thoughts on this movie. Thoughts that many of you will not agree with. That's okay; I accept my status as a niche Cage fan, the kind...
The Hollywood Reporter has the news that "Reno 911!" creators Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant are writing a Lionsgate heist comedy centered on Cage's stolen "Action Comics" #1 and the "group of nerds" who committed the crime. Pretty damn awesome, if you ask me. Less awesome is the word that Cage is "unlikely" to play himself in the film, and that Jason Statham has likewise turned down the opportunity to get in on the fun.
Look, I'm a big fan of Nic Cage, specifically when the man is at his craziest. So I have some thoughts on this movie. Thoughts that many of you will not agree with. That's okay; I accept my status as a niche Cage fan, the kind...
- 3/9/2012
- by Josh Wigler
- MTV Splash Page
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