Chris Cooper mentions Rob in one of his interviews

POP-PING IN – Actor Chris Cooper will join the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra this weekend on the Hyannis village green.

Actor Chris Cooper: Will narrate portrait of Kennedys at Pops by the Sea

Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper never met John, Robert or Edward Kennedy.
But he will always remember Senator Ted Kennedy because of a kind gesture.
It was 2005 and Cooper’s 17-year-old son Jesse had died of complications from cerebral palsy. Kennedy sent Cooper and his wife Marianne “a lovely personal note. We were very touched,” Cooper said softly.
When he was asked to narrate The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers at the 25th anniversary TD Bank Pops by the Sea at the Hyannis Village Green Aug. 1, Cooper said: “I couldn’t say no.” Composed by Peter Boyer and Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens, the new work honors the achievements, spirit, and legacies of the three Kennedy brothers. Quotes from their speeches are combined with original text and video that will be accompanied by an orchestral and choral score.
“It’s a terrifically emotional piece,” said Cooper. “My biggest challenge is to just get through it.”
Cooper, 59, is regarded as a premier character actor known for his intensity and consistency.
“That tag is fine with me,” he said during a phone interview from his home in Kingston.
Cooper’s played an array of characters including cops, military men, cowboys and ranchers in films including Money Train, Lone Star, A Time to Kill, October Sky, and American Beauty.
“Some characters have been a far stretch from what I consider to be myself,” he said. “Every character is an individual challenge.”
His most challenging role was playing Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent turned Soviet spy. His favorite character was John Laroche in the 2002 film Adaptation, which netted him an Academy Award for Best Supporting actor. Initially Cooper was intimidated about playing opposite Meryl Streep but found he had nothing to fear.
“She was fabulous,” he said. “I never had more fun working on a set and in a film. I had a tendency to take the work too seriously.”
Winning an Oscar “didn’t change my life at all, fortunately,” said the low-key star who enjoys a quiet life in Massachusetts. “I’ve stayed under the radar. I’m glad to step away from the business and live a normal life. It’s very healthy. The business can be very self-indulgent. I only go to Hollywood when I have to work.”
Cooper and his wife, Marianne Leone, moved to Kingston when their son Jesse was ready to start school.
“Massachusetts was years ahead,” he said, in providing educational opportunities for exceptional children partly because of Ted Kennedy’s support of mainstreaming children in public schools. Cooper’s wife also had local ties. She grew up in Newton.
“It was a great fit,” he said, to be near family.
The actor and his wife are still active as local advocates for children with disabilities. In September Simon and Schuster will publish Knowing Jesse, Marianne Leone’s memoir.
“It’s a story about loss and grief,” Cooper said. “It’s very informative to families who have children with disabilities. It’s pretty funny and heart-breaking.”
Cooper wanted to be an actor from the time he was a sophomore in college. He headed to New York where he worked in theater for 15 years. He made his first foray into movies late at the age of 35 in the 1987 film Matewan directed by John Sayles.
“It was a great first film,” he says. “John set a standard for me. We remain close friends.”
Cooper recently returned from the Philippines where he shot his fifth movie with Sayles, this one about the American occupation of the islands during World War II.
After all this time in the business, he still gets nervous before doing a movie.
“Fear is a good thing,” he said. “It’s good not to get on your high horse. The only tool you can use as an actor is your imagination and your life experience.”
Cooper credits his success partly to being “pretty picky” about the roles and projects he accepts.
“My theater training helped me develop a good sense of what a good script is.”
He portrays a detective in his new film Remember Me, co-starring teenage heart-throb Robert Pattinson.

“He’s a very sweet young man,” he said of the Twilight star. “He’s up against the kind of notoriety that’s monstrous at that age. I don’t know how he handles it.”

Cooper never had to deal with the fame game. Yet his career has played out better than he ever could have imagined.
“I have been very lucky,” he said. “There is no formula (for success). I work my tail off.”

Source via  Robstenation

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