A long awaited project by Producer and now Director Kevin Cooper is scheduled to begin shooting in Chicago starting in August. Cooper’s career was launched in Hollywood, having been a producer on the films Second Hand Lions, Men of Honor and The Fight Club. It was there that he became head of James Cameron’s Digital Domain, a digital production facility in Los Angeles. He is currently a faculty member at Columbia College, a media school in downtown Chicago.
Kevin Cooper’s latest project, Shakey, is a movie about a faithful pup who inadvertently shaped the philosophy on which Kevin ultimately would base his career. “When I moved to L.A. … I was young and I had this dog, this mutt. I was so passionate about pursuing a career in film. After moving into this small apartment, I was told I can’t keep my dog … It represented so much about, ‘OK. What am I going to value?’”, Kevin states, still moved by the experience.
It was Cooper’s dog that reminded him what his priorities should be. “It was the right call at that time for me to keep that dog. Also, as a young man, it was an important lesson about loyalty, about family … (or) selling out, which is really what this whole film is about.”
Loyalty is a theme that has been with Kevin since his childhood days in Toledo. “Our family vacations were in Michigan, and we went up to the U.P. and we stumbled across a wolf sanctuary up there. I wound up meeting this guy … and he was Inuit. I remember thinking … so much of what he has to say about wolf packs is true. In particular, this sense of loyalty, and how they stick together and they’ll mate for life.”
Actor Steve Lemme, best known for his roles in Beerfest and Super Troopers is a long time friend of Cooper’s. The two met while Kevin was a student at NYU film school. It is Steve who will play the lead role in Shakey, a character shaped after Kevin and his earlier experiences with his dog.
However, Kevin makes it clear that Steve was not chosen just out of a sense of loyalty, but that he is right for this role. “I’m very close to [him] as far as friends, but … he studied acting … He wasn’t a comedian who turned into an actor. I could show you some audition tapes and you can just see, with Steve as an actor … you want the camera to be on him.”
Alongside Steve Lemme will be Rylie Behr, a young actress from Iowa who will play Steve’s daughter and according to Producer Paul B. Payne, is guaranteed to tug on heart strings. On the other hand, Second City veteran Andy St. Claire will play “Jersky”, a character that is somewhat of a creep. While he is looking forward to the role, he jokingly sounds a note of caution. “What do they say? You’re not supposed to work with animals or kids? We’re doing both.”
Currently, Kevin’s company, Amarok Productions, is an apex of activity. They are making final casting decisions and working with the City of Chicago on location shoots at Buckingham Fountain, Michigan Avenue Bridge and The Field Museum. The budget is expected to stay under $500,000 and Cooper and Payne are keenly aware that movies have to make money or they don’t get made. They are working with studios in Los Angeles for distribution and emphasize that Shakey is not an independent project.
But with all the mayhem that producing a movie will bring, Kevin Cooper still has his priorities straight. “The Inuit word for wolf”, Kevin reveals, “is Amarok.”
