Quite a departure from his acclaimed directorial debut Crazy Heart (which won two Oscars in 2010, including for Jeff Bridges as Best Lead Actor), director/writer Scott Cooper’s second feature, Out of the Furnace, is a grim, gritty look at a beleaguered corner of the real world and several people trying to cope as best they can within it.
Still, Out of the Furnace and Crazy Heart have at the same time what Cooper described as a “distant cousin” common band as highly personal stories that explore the human condition while also shining a light on the locations and communities in which these people’s lives unfold.
Out of the Furnace stems from Cooper’s fascination with what Americans are going through at present. The film, for example, thrusts us into the Rust Belt’s crumbling economy, high unemployment, and introduces us to a war veteran with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) who returns home to find few options relative to assimilating back into the workplace. The only option he finds is to continue the violence he came to know in war as he brawls for “sport” before audiences of bloodthirsty bettors. These inhuman bouts introduce us to an underbelly of society but at the same time remind us that our world at large is violent as reflected in the tragedies at the Washington Naval Yard, Aurora and Newtown.
Cooper takes us into these issues by personalizing a story around a family tested at every turn. “You can take a much easier path as a filmmaker,” acknowledged Cooper. “It’s a risk to do a film as starkly realistic as this one. A lot of films that come out are much more digestible, palatable and more comforting.”
Yet at the same time, there is an undercurrent of optimism and a testament to the power of human endurance in Out of the Furnace, translating paradoxically into a film that is in a unique way uplifting. The story centers on a character portrayed by Christian Bale, a steel worker in Braddock, Pennsylvania. He’s making his living in a dying industrial town, has a dying father, is imprisoned for his part in a car accident that causes deaths, sees his relationship with the woman he loves disintegrate as a result and is trying to help his PTSD-stricken brother readjust to society. The latter battle is also lost, with Bales having to seek justice and retribution for his brother’s murder.
“I’m moved by humanity and how we endure,” said Cooper, praising Bale’s performance. “Christian is easily one of the best actors of my generation and I don’t think we’ve quite seen this level of humanity from him. He’s quiet, almost Gary Cooper-esque, and is able to hold the screen without a lot of dialogue. He gives a non-showy performance that connects with us.”
Cooper said he wrote Out of the Furnace with Bale in mind. This is akin to Crazy Heart which Cooper said he penned for Bridges. Stellar work in Out of the Furnace additionally comes from the rest of the cast which includes Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe and Forest Whitaker.
The town of Braddock is also moving as a character. “Just as Santa Fe, parts of Texas and California were part of Crazy Heart, Braddock is a leading character [in Out of the Furnace],” related Cooper. “It’s a dying steel town yet it’s strong and persevering. There are lives of optimism and courage there.”
DP, editor Cooper gravitated to cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (Silver Linings Playbook, The Grey, Warriors) to shoot Out of the Furnace. Cooper said of the DP, “He only cares about story and character. From his work on The Grey and Warriors, you get a strong sense of a man who cares about authenticity. I knew I needed a certain amount of grit and that I wanted to shoot anamorphically on film. Masa can do beautiful compositions but he is able to do it in a fashion that is emotional and realistic without feeling overly polished. He cares about characters and the character of the location. I recall [noted cinematographer] Rodrigo Prieto saying that he felt Masa was one of the best and I feel the same way.”
