“That’s the goal for me”: the two filmmakers Bradley Cooper would kill to collaborate with
In recent years, Bradley Cooper has moved behind the camera to become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors. He still acts in his directorial efforts, but aside from them, his on-screen presence has mostly been in cameo or voicework form. Interestingly, though, if a 2011 interview with the star is anything to go by, everything is going pretty much to plan. In that chat, he outlined his directing ambitions and the directors he would kill to collaborate with as an actor. He’s already chalked one off the list, with two more to go.
In 2011, Cooper was two years removed from exploding into stardom with The Hangover and one year removed from trying his hand at blockbuster action in The A-Team. He was promoting his first leading man role in Neil Burger’s thriller Limitless, but his ambitions of becoming a director were already known in the industry. In fact, when he was asked if he’d ever hang up his hat as an actor to become a director full-time, he didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“I’d love to direct,” Cooper replied instantly. “Yes, I’d retire. Absolutely.” When pushed on why he was already so certain he’d want to walk away from a life in front of the camera, he revealed that he imagined he would love directing so much that it would then occupy his thoughts entirely.
However, this isn’t to say he didn’t have ambitions in acting, too. He revealed that he wasn’t motivated by particular parts, but the idea of starring in a project helmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Jonathan Glazer, or Wes Anderson was what truly kept him going. He mused, “That’s the goal for me. It may change, and it may become a role, but at the moment it’s that.”
At that time in 2011, Glazer had only made two films: 2000’s Sexy Beast and 2004’s Birth. However, they were enough to convince Cooper that he had to know what it was like to work with the visionary English filmmaker. He admitted, “Honestly, I’ve been trying to just sit down with Jonathan Glazer for about eight years. I’m not kidding. I even went to high school with his agent, and I’m like, ‘Hey man, is there any way I can get a meeting?'”
As of 2024, Cooper hasn’t managed to land that role on a Glazer set, although it’s perhaps not surprising. After all, the man has only made two films since 2011 – Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest – and they had predominantly Scottish and German casts. Unfortunately for Cooper, it probably wasn’t an option to play Scarlett Johansson’s part as an otherworldly alien preying on the men of Scotland.
To date, Cooper hasn’t landed a collaboration with Wes Anderson, either, and that probably sticks in his craw. He directs a lot more often than Glazer and tends to favour massive ensemble casts, too, so it’s perhaps strange that Cooper hasn’t found his way into the likes of The Grand Budapest Hotel or The French Dispatch.
It’s not all defeat for Cooper, though. In 2021, he made a truly unhinged cameo in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, playing the real-life hairdresser-turned-producer Jon Peters. It was the fulfilment of one of his dream collaborations, at least, and one that had sustained him from long before he was famous. PTA told IndieWire, “Bradley told me that when he was a younger actor thinking about packing it in, he saw Punch Drunk Love, and that rejuvenated his conviction to try to stick it out and stay in Hollywood and push through.”
The Boogie Nights director added that he’d always been a fan of Cooper, and met with him casually after he was impressed with American Sniper. That chat was “just to say that maybe there could be something one day we could do together. For this, I had one person in mind, and it was him.” Aww.
