first with heart

Scott Cooper directorial debut

by Kurt Anthony Krug

Photography by Lorie Sebastion

Crazy Heart has snuck up on the scene in early 2010. The film is written produced and directed by Scott Cooper, who adapted the story from Thomas Cobb’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name. “I wanted to tell Merle Haggard’s story but was unable due to rights issues. So I turned to the novel that would allow me to tell Merle Haggard’s, Kris Kristofferson’s, and Waylon Jennings,” explained Cooper. “(I can) fictionalize all of that, take elements of their lives and tell a story about a man taking a personal journey, looking for redemption, and suffering all the themes that we go through daily: hope, regret, and loss.”

Crazy Heart centers around Bad Blake (Bridges), an aging country star still living on the road, playing his music at hole-in-the-wall dive bars. An alcoholic, the most Bad can hope for is opening for his young protégé Tommy Sweet (uncredited Colin Farrell, Daredevil), who has become rich and famous in ways Bad could never imagine, making him very jealous. “Colin’s a big star. We didn’t want people to think it’s a Colin Farrell movie,” said Cooper. “We thought it’d be more of a surprise. We wanted it to be more about a man’s personal journey and not a star vehicle.”

During a gig, Bad meets a young journalist named Jean Craddock (Gyllenhaal), who’s also a single mom. They end up falling hard for one another. But the question remains: Can Bad really take care of anyone else? His attempt becomes a gritty portrait of a man coming to grips with his own limitations and his last chance for redemption. “It’s very realistic, very bittersweet...

I wanted to portray this like real life; he’s one drink away from a relapse. Who knows if he’ll ever findtrue love again or if he’ll ever reconnect with his son successfully? Those are things that I wanted to be ambiguous. Things I want people to think about when they leave the movie, and things that are reflective of what life really is,” he says. “Redemption stories never get old because we’re all searching for that in one way or another to varying degrees. It’s a very humanistic story and it illuminates thehuman condition. I think it best illuminates what we suffer through on a day-to-day basis; we can all relate to that.”

Cooper had to have the Bad role filled before he could start adapting the novel and thinking about the music for the film. “You cannot create the music until you know who the performer is. Otherwise, it won’t be soulful or truthful or authentic,” he said. “I grew up with this type of music, living in the same type of world that Bad Blake lives in. And being an actor, I understood the nature of a performance- driven story.”

When casting Crazy Heart, Cooper had only Bridges in mind for the part of Bad. “Jeff’s the most difficult actor to commit to a project; he’s extremely selective” he said. “Once he and I met, he signed on very quickly.” Cooper was complimentary of 4-time Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges (The Contender), Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight), and Oscar winner Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies). Duvall also produced Crazy Heart marking the fourth time Cooper has collaborated with Duvall, whom he calls a “legend.”

The music for the film – in order to be real andbelievable, as if coming from the troubled soul of Bad – was written by T. Bone Burnett (Walk The Line) and the late Stephen Bruton, whose songs were recorded by Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson, among many others. Bruton died in May 2009, which was towards the end of filming Crazy Heart). Burnett wrote and produced the film’s songs, and received a producer credit. Bad’s character resonated with both men. In one of Burnett’s scores Bad sings, “I’ve been blessed and I been cursed, all my lies have been unrehearsed.” Cooper said, “It would be extremely hard for Bad to say what he really thought in his actual life. Art is not a pretty sight. It is, however, all there in his songs. I think it is fair to say, the same holds true for the writers who wrote the songs.”

Cooper, himself a musician, stated that being a musician helped tremendously when working on Crazy Heart. “You understand what a musician goes through, the creative process,” explained Cooper. “You understand how it’s a 12-act story musically and you’re able to understand the themes that course through country songs, folk songs, or jazz riffs that help complete a musical worldview. It certainly helps.”

The $7 million project was filmed in less than a month. “Logistically, we filmed this story in a short amount of time: 24 days… (We did) 10 musical numbers – one of them live in front of 12,000 people. We had 10 minutes to accomplish that,” he explains.

So far, Crazy Heart is receiving plenty of acclaim, particularly Bridges’ performance. To date, he has won Best Actor Awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Broadcast Film Critics, and the Golden Globe Awards. He has also been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. And there is plenty of Oscar buzz surrounding the film.

Not surprisingly, Cooper has taken all of the accolades in stride. “I’m so glad. We’re slowly rolling out to a wide release. I’m glad people are eager to see the film and that it’s been embraced by people and critics alike.” On a side note, Cooper told MMM ,“I hope to make a movie in Michigan one day. I think the people here are very courageous and have dealt with a lot of adversity. It’s the heartbeat of America and it’s given us a lot: The Big 3, Motown… It’s really what America is, Detroit,” said Cooper. We hope to see Scott in Michigan again soon.