Watch a pre-fame Bradley Cooper question Robert De Niro for acting advice
Few Hollywood stars have been celebrated or admired as widely as Robert De Niro. The actor, who rose to fame and fortune through the mid-1970s in films like Taxi Driver and The Godfather, has been known to give aspiring actors in his midst a helping hand. One such mentee is Bradley Cooper, who enjoyed his meteoric rise through the 2010s after his breakthrough role in The Hangover.
Cooper has now become a huge star in his own right and has been lucky enough to work closely with his idol, De Niro, on several occasions. Their first collaboration came in 2011 as the pair starred in Limitless together. The following year, the pair also appeared together in David O. Russell’s award-winning drama, Silver Linings Playbook.
In 2018, Cooper revealed in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter that De Niro taught and prepared him the most for his directorial debut, A Star Is Born. Cooper starred in the movie alongside Lady Gaga and, with De Niro’s guidance, made it a commercial and critical success, swiping one Academy Award from nine nominations.
During their various collaborations, the pair established a strong bond in friendship, but before that, Cooper had frequently cited De Niro as his acting hero and one of the main reasons he chose the career path. In a 2020 conversation with Style, Cooper revealed how it felt to become acquainted with someone he had admired from a distance for so many years.
“[It feels] completely surreal,” he said. “I see him as a man now, that myth is utterly broken, he is my friend – which is, in itself, a very surreal occurrence. I remember he came to my graduate school, and I asked him a question, and it was the most nerve-racking experience of my life. It was like a beam of light shot through my stomach when he looked at me, and I used that as fuel for years when I would put myself on the line for something. When I get rejected or turned down over and over, I’d think about the reception I got from Robert De Niro that day and keep going.”
At the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018, Cooper and De Niro sat down for a conversation. They discussed Silver Linings Playbook, a film in which Cooper portrayed De Niro’s character’s son, as a pivotal moment in their relationship.
“It’s probably the reason why I grew so close to you and love you so terribly as a friend,” Cooper said. “I got to say the word ‘dad’ all the time after my dad passed away, and I got to say it to you. It was this beautiful thing David allowed me to do and to be a part of. That movie, I have to say, was so special. And we all felt it every day on set. I owe David for life for that.”
Although De Niro and Cooper first collaborated on screen in 2011, they had conversed in 1999 during a Q&A event when a pre-fame Cooper asked De Niro a question about his movie Awakenings. Watch the moment alongside Cooper’s modern-day reaction below.
