The Meryl Streep advice that shaped Bradley Cooper’s career: “That’s how I look at it”
It is often said that no one remembers the one who came second at something. Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the moon, and though Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin did the same 19 minutes later, his name is always somehow lost in the chatter of appreciation that still follows his commander. But the same rule doesn’t apply to an actor’s career, and thankfully, because of Meryl Steep, Bradley Cooper learned this before he took his first step in Hollywood.
Having begun her career in the mid-1970s, Streep has almost double the experience in the film industry compared to Cooper. She had already been acting for decades when she imparted the wisdom to the actor that would decide how he would look at his upcoming career in Tinseltown — which was to not believe the battle is won if his first film did well critically and commercially.
Take Paul Hogan as an example. His first film, Crocodile Dundee, was a massive hit, but the sequels after it tanked, and so did his other films, like Almost an Angel, Lightning Jack, etc. The same goes for child actor Michael Oliver, who became an overnight star with Problem Child but failed to replicate the success with his future films and disappeared from Hollywood just as fast he had made his mark in it.
This is the advice Streep gave to Cooper and to many others, who were filled with dreams of making it big in Hollywood when she arrived at his school. She cautioned all the young souls with big dreams to remember that “the easiest thing is to do your first good movie, but then to do your second, that’s the hardest.”
While Cooper couldn’t recall her exact advice when he sat down for a chat with Front Row Features back in 2012, it did make him question what his goal was. He understood that if someone’s goal is to “just grow as an actor, then everything’s an opportunity, so that’s how I look at it. I don’t want to act or create a bubble. I care very much about how things are received and want them to be enjoyed, but I don’t see anything more pressure than not.”
In the world of cinema, your debut film being a blockbuster isn’t a promise of similar success when you pick your second film. It even creates this expectation from your peers, from the industry, and from the audience for the actor to do better.
Mistakes that were overlooked in their debut are no longer acceptable in their second film, and those who naively believe that the stream of their first feature will carry them forward in Hollywood soon learn that they couldn’t have committed a graver mistake. It is not even restricted to how well their second film does; as Cooper said, doing well in the industry has to be a goal that should go hand-in-hand with an actor’s desire to grow. Only then will you retain a permanent spot in the starry land of cinema.
Whether it was Streep’s advice or just her words cementing his own beliefs, Cooper did follow it with dedication. His first film, Wet Hot American Summer, crashed and burned at the box office in 2001. What followed was a long stint of facing rejections and minor roles — including his time on the TV show Alias — that almost made him quit acting permanently. Then came 2009 and the major blockbuster The Hangover. Seeing that Cooper’s films have earned a whopping $13billion worldwide since then, it’s safe to say his resilience changed Hollywood’s perception of him as an actor.
