Alas, Bradley Cooper won’t be in Venice to present his film on Leonard Berstein: the filmmaker will solidarize with his striking colleagues. His absence stings, as Cooper is a very interesting figure in modern cinema, shall we say unreplaceable. The figure in question is that of an actor who, before his entering A-list territory, worked his way up the ladder in TV series and side roles in movies we could very well do without. Once he reached fame, he never missed a shot, and proved an amazing ability to make artistic ambitions and commercial considerations coexist. Also, he left behind the pretty boy look he displayed at the beginning of his career, something other actors his age (Matthew McConeughey, to name one) can’t seem to let go of.
Bradley Cooper’s status as a Hollywood staple came with the Hangover trilogy between 2009 and 2013, all three films directed by Todd Phillips.
From then on, he gifted us performance after beautiful performance, both in the overall quality of the film he worked on and on the depth of the roles he interpreted, never ordinary, never superficial. Many of his characters are not quite emotionally or psychologically stable: bipolar in Silver Linings Playbook, hallucinated disorientation in American Sniper, deeply aware of the upcoming fall in A Star Is Born. In Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, Cooper’s role as the greedy, conning cold reader is interpreted delicately and with a hint of feverish damnation. Also unforgettable is Cooper’s amazing cameo in Licorice Pizza, playing a New York hairdresser turned Hollywood film producer.
As a director, Bradley Cooper proves his solidity as a filmmaker: A Star Is Born of 2018 is a perfectly made film that breathed new life into old Hollywood myth.
The life and art journey of Leonard Bernstein, legendary orchestra conductor and a giant of contemporary music. His charisma and passionate love for music made the history of Broadway, jazz, and symphony, and is only equal to that for his beloved wife of almost thirty years, C...
Cooper’s debut in a fleeting performance as a Manhattan party guy, a role he ditched soon enough.
Cooper plays a little part in a movie that later attained cult status.
The film plays on whose hairdo is the best: Bradley Cooper’s afro or Jeremy Renner’s perm.
Cooper just doubles one of the film’s protagonists, Rocket, a raccoon skilled in the use of weapons.
A chef who lost everything gives his all for the coveted three Michelin stars.
