The shocking moment Bradley Cooper almost suffocated himself on set
Being the lesser-known and least successful of two competing culinary tales created a recipe for disappointment – if not outright disaster. However, things could have ended up much worse for Burnt had Bradley Cooper not been saved from self-suffocation.
Originally announced in May 2013, director John Wells was forced to alter the title of his movie from Chef to Burnt – via a brief stint as Adam Jones – when Jon Favreau got into production first with his own spiritually-similar feature. Whereas Favreau’s Chef drew a strong response from critics and recouped its production budget four times over and then some at the box office, Wells wasn’t so fortunate.
Cooper’s performance did earn plenty of plaudits, though, but the film itself was largely shunned when it came to both reviews and people willing to pay for a ticket, which makes the leading man’s near-death experience seem even more unnecessary.
The star’s character, Adam Jones, is a self-destructive celebrity chef who decides to descend upon the restaurant of his heated rival in a drunken stupor, placing a sous vide bag over his head in the process. Quickly realising that it wasn’t the best way to make a point, Jones begins gasping for air, forcing Matthew Rhys’ Montgomery Reece to leap into action to tear it open and restore his nemesis with the ability to breathe.
A suitably intense way of conveying how his character had hit rock bottom, Cooper decided to improvise the moment on set, seemingly oblivious to how difficult it would be to extricate himself. In fact, as Rhys told hosts Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly when he appeared on Good Day New York (via E! Online), “There was no acting”.
Revealing how he was caught unaware, Rhys explained that “what I was required to do was tear the plastic bag from his face before he killed himself”. Admitting “there was no acting required on my behalf”, he was plunged into a state of “genuine panic”. And yet, he still managed to praise Cooper’s dedication and the way in which he’s “fearless in his improvisation”.
Cooper was understandably grateful, downplaying his close call by celebrating his and Rhys’ shared love of acting. “We didn’t really know each other at all and next thing you know, he’s caressing me and calmed me down, we’re bonded forever,” he said. “Why we both love doing what we do is to be able to really put yourself in imaginary circumstances and hope that accidents like putting a bag on your head and realising you can kill yourself happen.”
The scene that nearly suffocated Cooper did at least make it into the final cut of Burnt, which is just as well, considering it’s the sort of thing he shouldn’t have even considered attempting twice.
