In elementary school Christian Cooper found himself in a class that bored him to death. Little did he know that that class would spawn a lifetime passion and even a TV show.
The class was wood shop, and the 10-year-old Cooper couldn’t see the point. “I have no wood shop skills whatsoever to this day,” he grins.
“But I had to build either a footstool or a bird feeder. And happily, I built the bird feeder, put it up, filled it with seed and kept wondering what all the crows with red on their wings were. I thought I discovered a new species of crow. I was all excited.”
That excitement has stayed with him and now, as world-class birder Cooper hosts his own show on NatGeo Wild called “The Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper.” The series also premieres on Disney+ Wednesday.
Cooper never got over his fascination with what he thought were crows. “I found out, oh, they're red‑winged blackbirds. But it remains, to this day, one of my favorite birds.”
He has discovered that birds are one part of nature we can all observe — even if we’re trapped in the concrete and steel of the big city. “It is one small step, and that's all it takes,” he says, “a step outside your door or to your window.
“And that's really all it takes. It's great to have binoculars, but you don't even have to have those. You just need to engage with the birds that are outside your window, and in the world around you, however you can get them. Put a bird feeder out, or just look at what's in your yard, or go to your local park. That's all it takes. And what we're hoping is that ‘Extraordinary Birder’ will inspire tons of people to do just that.”
This solitary bird-watcher was thrust into the headlines when he was falsely accused of harassment in Central Park three years ago. He says he doesn’t mind taking advantage of his new found celebrity.
“My attitude has always been if all these people are going to shove microphones and cameras in my face, I'm going to use it to say what I think needs to be said and that's important.”
Originally, he says, he wanted to talk about political matters. “And now it's about getting people to look at birds,” he says, “because that's really what has been a trajectory through my whole life. It’s getting people to get out there, regardless of who you are, regardless of your skin color ... regardless of your sexual orientation, regardless of your ability or disability,” he says.
“For example, when we go to Puerto Rico in ‘Extraordinary Birder,’ we meet up with a birder who is blind, who uses his ears to identify the birds, to great effect. So, if I'm going to have this visibility, let me use it to get people out there, out their front door, looking at birds, because it will change your life. It will elevate your perspective, and it will change the way you perceive the world.”
Cooper’s obsession has taken him to remarkable places, but the most exotic may have been the Staten Island landfill in New York City. “It was probably formerly the biggest garbage dump on the planet ... the Fresh Kills Landfill which they closed, to the distress of the gulls, who were like, ‘Banquet!’ They loved the landfill when it was a landfill.
“But they closed it. And they capped it. And they did all sorts of renumeration on the soil. And it is now a grassland. And the thing you have to understand is that grasslands are disappearing all across North America. Grassland species of birds are taking the biggest hit of any class of bird that are around,” he says.
“So, to not just be losing grasslands, but to gain acres and acres of grasslands that were never before, and in the middle of New York City, was astonishing. To be out there, to know that I was standing on a former land dump and that this was now this green and growing place that attracted a threatened species, the sedge wren, that I had never seen before. And now that that threatened species has shown up, they've got to manage the land a little bit differently to protect it. So that was quite remarkable for me, to be in that sort of transformed space.”
Mel Gibson stars in action flick
Mel Gibson is back in action in the movie “Confidential Informant,” available on digital and on demand June 27 and in selected theaters on June 30. The movie is about two narcotics policemen in search of a cop killer, one of whom makes a nefarious deal with a stool pigeon. Gibson, who’s been a headline buster for a long time, first gained attention as star in the now-classic sci-fi epic, “Mad Max.”
“’Mad Max’ took us by surprise,” he tells me. “It was a small Aussie film, made on a shoestring. I had no idea what the film was. I was intimidated by it, terrified when it caught on. I was surprised it was a hit, not because of me, but because of the filmmaker. All I did was stand there and look enigmatic because I didn’t know what to do.”
He confesses he likes acting because it can be a form of escape for him. “The first time it truly happened, when I was relaxed enough to check out into somewhere else, was when I was very young. I was given a problem to solve and given an hour to do it, in front of a roomful of people. The audience was there, and I became intoxicated with the process; became absorbed into it. I became so focused into it that I forgot about me, forgot about everything — completely given over to whatever the problem was. The hour passed very quickly. When it was over, I was totally spent but exhilarated. It’s the best trip I've ever had. That doesn’t happen all the time. In fact, it happens less and less. It seems to me that the more you try to make it happen, the less it wants to happen. The best way back to it is to relax and not expect it.”
Channel offers round-the-clock Christmas fare
Families who still want great family entertainment that the whole brood can enjoy together might want to try out the Great American Family channel and its eccentric summer Christmas event. “The Great American Christmas in July” begins on June 30. Round-the-clock Christmas movies are on the menu here with the world premiere of “A Belgian Chocolate Christmas” starring Jacklyn Hanes and Zane Stephens, the entree on July 8.
A photographer finds herself in a Belgian culinary school and develops a “craving” for the chocolatier who’s conducting the class. Of course, there’s an impediment to this perfect pairing. And anyone who has tasted Belgian chocolate would understand that it’s definitely worthwhile to cozy up to the chocolatier.
Tom Hanks' secret craving
In the movie world there’s probably no bigger star than Tom Hanks. Well, maybe Tom Cruise would lend him a little competition. Once again, Hanks joins a panoply of stars in Wes Anderson’s eerie desert saga, “Asteroid City,” opening wide on Friday.
And while we recognize Hanks for his comedy in flicks like “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Big,” “Bosom Buddies” and his drama in works like “Forest Gump,” “Captain Phillips” and “Cast Away,” few people know that he harbors an itch to be a musician.
“Well, who hasn't picked up a tennis racket and played it in front of the mirror while the music is going on?” he asks.
“And I still do that every time I go to a rock 'n' roll concert, which I do once in every seven and a half years. I'm fascinated by the drummer. I always wanted to be the drummer,” he says.
“When I was a kid, I would fantasize that I was such a good drummer that Ringo will leave the Beatles, and George, Paul, and John will hear about this fabulous kid who was only 8 years old, and they wanted me to join them on their tours.
“To me what was always romantic in ‘The Man with No Name’ or Clint Eastwood in ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ was actually the musician who will sit in the back and keep the rhythm behind the story. I always thought that the guitar is the fire of rock 'n' roll bands, but it is the drums that keep the band centered.”
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