Actors Chris Cooper and Marianne Leone share a marriage and a passion for disability advocacy
He's an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor.
She's an actress, writer and advocate for disabled children.
And they're a married couple.
We're delighted to bring Chris Cooper and Marianne Leone to Albany for a conversation with WAMC's Joe Donahue on Monday, Sept. 16, part of our ongoing Creative Life Series.
But first, join us Friday, Sept. 6, for a film screening of "Lone Star," a 1996 American neo-Western mystery film written, edited, and directed by Schenectady-born John Sayles. The ensemble cast, featuring Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Peña and Matthew McConaughey -- and deals with a Texas frontier town sheriff's investigation into the murder of one of his predecessors.
FILM SCREENING
"Lone Star"
7 p.m. Friday, September 6, 2024
Page Hall, UAlbany Downtown Campus
135 Western Avenue, Albany NY 12203
Praised by Roger Ebert as "a great American film," "Lone Star" film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. The film also won the Belgian Grand Prix, and the awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay from the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards. The screenplay was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin wrote:
"This long, spare, contemplatively paced film, scored with a wide range of musical styles and given a sun-baked clarity by Stuart Dryburgh's cinematography, is loaded with brief, meaningful encounters... And it features a great deal of fine, thoughtful acting, which can always be counted on in a film by Mr. Sayles."
Watch the trailer:
Then, we return to Page Hall 10 days later for the "Creative Life" conversation with Chris Cooper and Marianne Leone. Moderated by Joe Donahue, the wide-ranging talk will cover their careers in film and also Leone's new memoir, Five-Dog Epiphany: How a Quintet of Badass Bichons Retrieved Our Joy (Sep. 2024)— a tribute to the rescue dogs who helped her and husband rediscover happiness after the tragic loss of their son Jesse, who died in 2005 at age 17 from complications of cerebral palsy.
THE CREATIVE LIFE
Marianne Leone and Chris Cooper
Conversation/Q&A with WAMC’s Joe Donahue
7:30 p.m. Monday, September 16, 2024
Page Hall - University at Albany Downtown Campus
135 Western Avenue, Albany NY 12203
An actress in many films, including The Thin Blue Line (1988), True Love (1989), Goodfellas (1990), The Three Stooges (2012), and Joy (2015). Leone is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as the mother of Christopher Moltisanti in the hit series The Sopranos.
She is also the author of two previous memoirs, Jesse: A Mother's Story (2011) and Ma Speaks Up: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back (2017).
In 2019, Cooper and Leone shared their story in the documentary "Intelligent Lives," which follows three young adults living with intellectual disability and striving to overcome stereotypes and misconceptions as they navigate high school, college and the workforce. They continue to raise awareness for and advocate for inclusion for everyone.
In a 2019 interview with People magazine, they describe their advocacy for kids with special needs and how they fought for their son Jesse to attend public school.
"Cooper and Leone encourage anyone with friends or loved ones who have special needs or different abilities to fight for proper inclusion, no matter what, because if they had given in to what doctors originally told them, their son Jesse would have gone to a hospital school where he wouldn’t have received proper education, if any.
'He would not have been challenged and that’s what we wanted most for Jesse,' says Cooper. 'His abilities and his intelligence were intact. To avoid putting him in a collaborative situation where there’s nothing demanded or challenged, he’s not challenged, it would’ve been so sad.'"
Leone says the hardest part is getting the laws that are already in place, like access to free and public education for all children, to be enforced, and they want all parents to know how to get what they want for their children.
'This is why we feel very strongly about this because we understood that we had resources. We spoke English, we both have college degrees,' she says. 'What we learned is that grassroots organizing works, community works, and presuming competence is the strongest thing you can do around a person with a disability.'"
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