By Michael Buckley
29 Jun 2008

	Dominic Cooper in "Mamma Mia!"
	photo by Peter Mountain © Universal Pictures

As we speak at Manhattan's Ritz Carlton Hotel, Dominic Cooper is on a whirlwind "Mamma Mia!" publicity tour. On Sunday, he'd been in Milan; Tuesday would find him in Greece. (Ah, an actor's life can be difficult, but someone's got to do it.) Since we had a limited amount of time, I didn't inquire about his remaining itinerary.

One imagines that the role of Sky should make the charismatic Cooper quite popular, although he tells me, "It's something I never thought I'd be doing. I went to great lengths to avoid it.

"I was working in Dublin at the time I got a call: 'Can you sing?' I said, 'No.' There were more phone calls. I knew of the show, but I hadn't seen it. I knew of the director, who's terrific. Finally, I said, 'I'll go, but it's going to be excruciating for everyone.'"

Continues Cooper, "I practiced the song ["Lay All Your Love on Me"], but was told, 'You can't go. That sounds awful.' I had great fun at the audition. I sort of laughed my way through it. Next thing I knew, I'd been offered the part. It was very surprising."

He went to see the musical, "and was amazed at the reaction. The audience became euphoric! I thought: This is what the film has to be like. I, personally, believe it is. I've been privileged to be part of it. No matter what anyone says, people are secret fans of ABBA music. I grew up with it; I get nostalgic when I hear it."

Remarking that he'd be good as another Sky — Masterson — should they ever do a new film version of Guys and Dolls, Cooper confesses, "I don't know the show, but I should look into that."

Was there a particular actor he admired growing up? "I'm embarrassed to say there wasn't. There were the old, classical actors who I knew were impeccable — like Olivier." Adds the just-turned-30 actor, "I have flashbacks about classic '80s films: 'Back to the Future' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' The world of film intrigued me, and I was taken to the theatre and saw really good stage actors. But no specific people influenced me."

Born in Greenwich, London, Cooper has two brothers, a half-brother, and half-sister. He began acting while in school. "It was the only way I could continue on and do my A-levels [tests required to apply for college]. I wasn't very good academically.

"They had a fantastic drama department, and the person in charge begged the head [master] to let me play the Emcee in Cabaret [Cooper's sole previous musical credit], insisting that I was the only person who could do it. It was a very exciting production, my first proper taste of performing. I loved it. That's a character I'd love to play professionally. Unfortunately, it's just been done in London."

Graduating from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) in 2000, he was hired by Nicholas Hytner to play a male prostitute in Mother Clap's Molly House (Cooper's 2001 stage debut). Among his roles since have been Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 12-year-old in His Dark Materials, Parts I & II (also directed by Hytner), and the one that's given him the most satisfaction, to date: Dakin in Alan Bennett's 2006 Tony-winning Best Play The History Boys (again with Hytner directing). "Alan and Nick worked so well together."

With the drama since its first reading, Cooper appeared in all subsequent productions (London, Hong Kong, Wellington, Sydney, Broadway), as well as the radio and film versions. While Dakin's enamored by a younger student — and by the school's new (male) teacher, he's involved with the head master's (female) secretary, which later leads to his being able to save (through blackmail) an older teacher's job.

Explains Cooper, "It's quite easy to think of Dakin as someone who's manipulative, and uses his sexual prowess for his own gain. That's one way it could be played, but that's not really him. Alan's writing is challenging and brilliant. It's an extraordinary character to play."

Saying I wish that "The History Boys" film had fared better with a youth-dominated, action-fixated movie audience, Cooper feels that it will do well "over time. Kids who didn't see it will, someday, and be affected by it. That's the wonderful thing about film. It hopefully will reach more people than it did as a play."

Cooper's 2001 screen debut was as a clerk in "Anazapta" (a thriller, set in 1384, about the Black Death). Other appearances include "The Gentleman Thief," "From Hell," "Band of Brothers" (TV), "I'll Be There," "Breakfast on Pluto," "Starter for 10," "Sense and Sensibility" (TV), and "The Escapist." He has four upcoming releases: "An Education," "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men," "The Duchess," and "David Copperfield" (reuniting him with "Mamma Mia!" co-stars Julie Walters and Colin Firth).

Of Broadway, Cooper observes, "It's a much closer community than the West End, where theatres are more spread out. New York audiences are much more amicable, much more willing to approach [at a restaurant or bar], and say how they feel. If they like something, they come and tell you. In England, people would be a bit more embarrassed to go and do that. Everyone loves to hear how a piece of work has affected them, and that they've enjoyed it."

Hopefully, claims Cooper, he'll be "working again with Nick Hytner — soon in London, and then on Broadway — though it's not absolutely definite. We're doing Phaedra, starring Helen Mirren." Of course, that's the musical version. Cooper laughs: "I only do musicals now."

*

Various and Sundry

A fascinating documentary, "Chris and Don: A Love Story" (at Manhattan's Quad Cinema), details the relationship (1953-86) between British writer Christopher Isherwood (1904-86), author of the "Berlin Stories" — the basis for I Am a Camera/Cabaret — and 30-years-younger American portrait artist Don Bachardy. Included are excerpts from Isherwood's diaries (read by Michael York), Bachardy drawings, comments by Leslie Caron, footage on the set of "The Rose Tattoo" (1955), with Anna Magnani, Burt Lancaster, Tennessee Williams. The New York Times termed it "extremely touching...elegantly structured."

Two-time Tony winner (How to Succeed...; Tru) Robert Morse relates that he's shot five episodes, so far, for the sophomore season of AMC's "Mad Men", about which Alex Witchel wrote in last Sunday's Times magazine.

Guest starring on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (USA cable, June 29, 9 PM ET) are Christopher Lloyd (a fine Pellinore in the recent "Camelot" telecast) and "Late Night with David Letterman" music director Paul Shaffer as himself.

On a recent PBS documentary, Billy Wilder explained that he became a director to protect screenplays he wrote from misinterpretation. Asked should all directors be able to write, he said, "Better they should be able to read."

(Stage to Screens is Playbill.com's monthly column that connects the dots between artists who cross freely between theatre, film and television. Michael Buckley may be contacted at stagetoscreens@aol.com.)

Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep and Julie Walters in "Mamma Mia!"
photo by Peter Mountain © Universal Pictures

View article on single page

Previous Page   1 | 2 Next Page