Through his struggles and triumphs, Cooper gives us a clear view of the country musician and how he came to achieve it. “The themes about redemption, loss and regret we all experience on a daily basis,” states Cooper. There are many things that can easily take over our lives for better or worse, especially pertaining to particular vices, and the struggles to try and overcome or succumb to those vices tend to intrigue a lot of people. ” I felt that I understood that and felt that I could personalize the story.”

Although Scott Cooper does retain a stellar cast and Oscar buzz, that is something completely unexpected for the first time director. His career more focused in front of the camera rather than behind it, he expresses his not-so-secret love for other forms of filmmaking. ” I like to do both. I like to write, direct and act. It allows me to be more involved in the whole process.”

Actors turning into directors is not uncommon in this day and age, which is something Cooper recognizes completely. “The actors I most respond to are Sean Penn, Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thorton. They’re a bunch of guys that I’ve always liked, that I wanted to emulate. So, here we are.”

Being a director and a writer for an adaptation is juggling around the source material. There always is a complaint or two in regards to staying true, which at times can be a little more difficult that anticipated at first. ” The novel, it’s just such great source material that, it feels hard to say, but you kind of have to kill your darling. Take things out that were in the book.” Luckily for the general public, the big screen version of the Cobb novel does not stray too far away from it’s source.

The biggest talk about Crazy Heart is the performances, particularly of Jeff Bridges as the lead character Bad Blake. Scott apparently feels the same as we do when it comes to Bridges and his performance. “Well, next to Mr. (Robert) Duvall, he’s America’s finest actor. He’s a great musician and a singer so that helped.” As you may all or not know, Bridges’ character once again is a country singer so he performs with all his might on the big screen.

Cooper was clearly happy that he was not the only one to notice how stellar some of the performances came to be in his own feature. ” Maggie Gyllenhaal is one of the great female actresses. She brings out such a great performance. Also, with Jeff Bridges giving out such an incredible performance, I hope that somebody would at least notice that, and lo and behold they have!”

Being a newcomer to the film world behind the camera in the big time, the huge array of Oscar buzz could not be any more surprising. “I think for a first time for me as a writer and director that it’s something I didn’t expect.” Of course, with that, he reveals how the whole film process worked to his advantage with the sudden buzz. ” I wanted a film that was invisibly directed. that way I could get focus on the behavior and the performances. So having it be just on their performances means I’ve done my job to make it like there’s no cameras in the room. In a sense it makes it feel like you were spying on their lives.”

Crazy Heart just got released into more theaters this past Friday but is set to be spawning out into even more screens during the month of January.

The feature length debut, written and directed film by Scott Cooper, brings us through a step-by-step process of what an alcoholic goes through. While it may seem fairly simple to convey a rendition of the Thomas Cobb novel Crazy Heart to the big screen, what captivates people the most is the whole world seen through the eyes of Bad Blake.

Jeff Bridges steps onto the stage, literally and figuratively, dawning a cowboy hat and guitar as he strums his way through the role with grace. Particular pieces like this require a strong actor to keep the entire film afloat, a task that Bridges completes fully. Between countless numbers of scenes, by himself or interacting with others, Bridges tears out Blake from paper and breathes life into him creating a fully dimensional character.

Bridges could not entirely become Blake if it was not for the simple vision of Cooper and a mainly quiet cast to bounce off of. The minor characters appear to be placed within random sections of the movie as stand ins to make us all aware that it’s not solely Blake in this country music-filled world. The only actor that actually keeps up with Bridges is Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean Craddock, the reporter and blatant love interest.

There is a good reason why Jeff Bridges, and the film overall, has been garnering the attention that it has. This could easily be named as one of the best performances Bridges has done to date, and is a film that should be on many people’s list of features to watch during this winter season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: Four-time Academy Award® nominee JEFF BRIDGES stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film CRAZY HEART from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart.

Source: incontention.com