Chris Cooper is an actor who defines ‘character’

Chris Cooper is happy to be known as a character actor. He lives in Kingston, well out of the Hollywood loop, and is regularly called upon to play pretty much every kind of personality imaginable. He gave solid portrayals as a rock-steady sheriff in “Lone Star,” a psychotic killer in “Money Train,” a soft-spoken horse trainer in “Seabiscuit,” and a snaggle-toothed, drug-addled orchid hunter in “Adaptation.”

Somehow it’s hard to picture him as a song-and-dance man. But that’s exactly how the 58-year-old actor got his start.

“The only available work when I was a youngster starting out in Kansas City was in musicals,” he said, with the remnant of a Midwest twang. “There was a summer stage performance out in a park, and I played Riff in ‘West Side Story.’ When I got to University of Missouri, where I did the summer repertory season, I played Tony in ‘The Boyfriend.’ That was a lot of tap dancing. I was pretty bow legged, but we got through it.

“It wasn’t the theater that I prefer,” he added, “but it was great training.” That training led him right to where he wanted to be – acting in straight plays, including “A View from the Bridge,” “The Birthday Party,” and “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” It eventually brought him to New York, where “I got into all the facets of stage work, from running a light board to hanging lights to designing sets to working on costumes. But acting for me was the real magnet. I knew I had to give it a serious try.” With a best supporting actor Oscar under his belt for “Adaptation,” and the lead role in his fifth John Sayles film, “Baryo,” just wrapped, Cooper’s current role in “Remember Me” showcases what he calls his “flawed everyman” appeal.

He plays Neil Craig, a veteran New York City cop who is still grieving his wife’s murder a decade earlier, and has become extremely overprotective of his now college-age daughter. His approach to playing the part was the same one he’s been using for years.

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“I’ve got three things to work with: research, my own life experience that I can apply, and my imagination,” he said. “I lived in New York in the ’70s, and I saw things that nobody should see. I realized that these officers deal with the scum of the earth, every day. I don’t see a bright future for Craig. He’s got a lot to deal with, no happy endings tied up with a pink ribbon.”

Cooper said he was drawn to the role by the usual elements: a good script and an interesting character.

“What dawned on me about this script, and nothing else came to mind quickly, was an old film, ‘Love Story’,” he said. “A working-class family and a very wealthy family and the conflicts in between. I was surprised that nothing more recent came to mind.”

Cooper costars opposite Emilie de Ravin (“Lost”) as his daughter, and Robert Pattinson (“Twilight”) as her love interest. All three actors are on the record as having gone through a smooth, enjoyable shoot, with accolades flying left and right.

But Cooper admits that there have been previous film sets on which he’s been less than thrilled with the attitudes.

“There’s a theory among some actors that goes, ‘Well, I don’t want to know my lines completely, because when I’m on camera I want to struggle for the words so it makes me look more real’,” he said. “Well, that doesn’t always work. And then the actor is so unfamiliar with the lines, that he kills a good take, and he kills other people’s work. That’s the whole idea of coming prepared to do your day’s work. I’ve had to instill that in a couple of young actors. And I’m not gonna soft pedal when they’re interfering with my career. That’s a time where I will confront.

“Oddly enough,” he added, “I’d say that down the road, they appreciate it.” Yet at the same time, Cooper enjoys being directed.

“I like it a whole lot,” he said. “But the key that’s often said is that 90 percent of a director’s work is casting, so more often than not, your director is casting you because he believes you’re the guy that can pull this character off. What I’ve experienced is pretty much you’re given free rein to create this character, unless you get way off track. Then, of course, the director’s got to step in and say, ‘I was thinking in this direction.’ ”

“Remember Me” opens Friday.