Crazy Heart

After toiling for several years as an unknown, but employable actor, Scott Cooper took his career by the reigns and directed “Crazy Heart” (2009), the poignant tale of a broken-down country music singer that earned critical acclaim and several key awards. Cooper was born in Virginia, but spent a fair part of his youth being raised in Somerset, KY, where he attended Somerset High School for one year before moving back to Virginia with his family. Growing up, he was reared on bluegrass music and Southern literature, which had a profound influence on his creative decisions later in life. Meanwhile, he ventured north to the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, where he trained to be an actor. One of his earliest onscreen roles was playing Klansman’s son in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999). After appearing in the made-for-cable movie “Rain” (Animal Planet, 2001) and on an episode of the British import sitcom, “At Home with the Braithwaites” (ITV, 1999-2003), Cooper had a minor supporting part in “Gods and Generals” (2003), which starred his acting mentor Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee. Following a small part in the crime thriller “Takedown” (2004) and a larger supporting turn in the uplifting “Ladder 49” (2004), Cooper was finally noticeable as Henry ‘Heck’ Gilpin in the award-winning miniseries, “Broken Trail” (AMC, 2006), which gave the actor an opportunity to work again with Duvall.

Unsatisfied with the roles he was being offered, Cooper set out to make inroads as a director. But instead of crafting his own performance piece, he instead stayed strictly behind the camera as the writer and director of “Crazy Heart” (2009), which starred Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, a burnt-out country music star reduced to playing gigs at bowling alleys while trying to hold on to what remains of his self-respect. With a trail of broken marriages and even more broken bottles, Blake finally starts to find redemption with the help of a journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who starts to uncover the real man behind the music. Though he originally wanted to tell the story of Merle Haggard – he even followed the musician around on tour – Cooper had trouble landing the life rights, due to legal entanglements with Haggard’s numerous ex-wives. Instead, he optioned Thomas Cobb’s then out-of-print novel, Crazy Heart, which told a fictional, but similar tale to Haggard’s own life. After writing the script, Cooper turned to Duvall, who immediately offered to be the executive producer. Determined to land Jeff Bridges for the lead and T-Bone Burnett to compose the music, Cooper did just that, fulfilling what he considered to be his top two requirements to make the film. Purposely directed with a 1970s feel that harkened back to Hollywood’s last golden age, “Crazy Heart” won widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Bridges, who began to accumulate all the major acting awards in early 2010. —Yahoo!