Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper: Thank you. Host: Great to have you. Bradley Cooper: Hey. Host: You're one of the nicest, hardest working people in Hollywood. You're very real. You keep it real.

You've had an arc as an actor that has been impressive, both on, in theater and numbers. Four Academy Award nominations, I believe, BAFTAs and so forth. But you've entered this new realm of directing.

So you've kind of gone from what we would call around here an individual contributor role, the Wow. To a leader, where you have to have a vision, and you need Bradley Cooper: Oh, boy. Host: Inspire people. And then you have budgets, and you've got technology.

So were you a little bit scared going into all this, or how did it all roll out Bradley Cooper: for you? But you're, you're absolutely right. First of all, thank you for having me.

It's such a pleasure to be Host: here. Oh, it's hardship to have Bradley Cooper: you. Oh, really? No, it's kinda.

It's, it's insane. It's insane. And I was able to you were kind enough to invite me to Sicily to the Google camp when we showed the movie, which was really incredible. Host: And everyone was buzzing about it.

Bradley Cooper: That was really great. Very Host: moving. Not a dry eye I heard in the place. Bradley Cooper: My daughter loved it.

Good. Not the movie, but she Host: Sicily. Bradley Cooper: There's a big pool there. Yes. You're so right about budgetary issues, and timing, and and all of that stuff.

But I actually loved all of that. I loved actually having a, you know, dipping my toe in all of those aspects of it. And I think that's because you're right, when you have a vision and you wanna see it through, I would feel very odd if I didn't, if I didn't have a part of the.

It's 'cause that's part of the road, and how wide it is, and how, you know, where the velocity picks up. You wanna have a say in everything because it winds up the finished product is right now belongs to you. So I very much was a part of all of that.

And I couldn't imagine not doing it that way. Host: Anything really surprise you about that process and journey? I've seen so many interviews of the tight cast coming together and saying, "We had a magic experience working as a team, working as a collaborative creative group."

It wasn't so much scripted as enabled Mm. A clear vision of the story, and you're just freeing up Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle, to play their parts in ways they said they'd never experienced before. And of course, it's Lady Gaga's first film, debut.

Yeah. So. Bradley Cooper: I think it has, I think that's. I've heard them say that. It makes me so happy.

'Cause that's was the goal, to create an environment where as you all know, when you feel safe and you feel motivated, and you also know that you're called upon to bring all of your selves, that that's the environment that you can really thrive. And you go home at night and think, "Oh, wow, that was a really fruitful day."

I think because I've been in this business for 20 years, and I've been around all different types of environments with, in the same setting, I just, you know, I'm a good listener and observer. So I just watched and picked up everything that works for me.

And I just wanted to create an environment which was the culmination of all of the good parts and take all the bad parts out of it. And then hope that in that respect I could get the best out of the people that entrusted themselves to me, quite frankly. 'Cause that was a.

I mean, I just couldn't believe that Lady Gaga took such a huge risk. 'Cause it's a big risk. This isn't one of those projects where you're like, "Well, you know, if it doesn't work out, it'll, you'll be okay."

Host: Yeah. You without Bradley Cooper: your makeup. It's like not really it's not, it's not really this. It's like, actually if it doesn't work out, it's, you're gonna take a big hit.

So there was a lot at stake. And even for Dave Chappelle. That took me, like, two and a half years to get him.

And 'cause he just doesn't do this kind of thing. And but he was so willing. And Sam Elliot, you know, I've never seen him play a character that was so filled with resentment the way that character was.

And he just threw all of himself into that. And my hope is that it's because they felt that there was that kind of inspiring environment. Which by the way, I sort of set the tone, but everybody else has to help create that.

You know, every single crew member, everybody has to be on the same page. And everybody dictates. I mean, you know in your work environment, if there's one person that has an energy that's off, the whole, it contaminates the rest of the team. So everybody really has to be on the same page.

Host: And you pursued this script for years. I've seen various reports. Six years. You said you pursued Dave Chappelle for over two years.

So when'd you get the burning idea to do the fourth incarnation of A Star Is Born? Bradley Cooper: It was, it was sort of like a coming together of two different things. I always knew I wanted to direct.

And I would, I'd worked with great directors like David O. Russell or Clint Eastwood, who really allowed me to be a part of their process. I was in the editing room almost every day for Silver Linings Playbook.

And Jay Cassidy, who was David's editor, he and I worked together on this movie. So I'd always knew that eventually I'm gonna have to stop just saying I'm gonna try to do it and actually do it. And because I knew that all these sort of compositions cinematically would always fly around in my head.

And I was at a Metallica concert. And I was, and I'd met Lars Ulrich and like, the night before. And I said, "Oh, man, I'm a huge Metallica fan."

And he said, "Well, come to the, come to the concert tomorrow night." So I found myself 12 hours later standing behind his drum kit at Yankee Stadium. And I could see the sweat on his back, and I could also see the scope of the crowd.

And I thought, "This is an incredible composition that people don't get to see." And that was the, that was the birth of the the subjective idea of always being on the stage for, in the movie. So in the movie, we're never in the crowd.

So it was just, like, little ideas like that. I thinking about fame, like, what fame can be. You know, paparazzi and you know, you can watch TMZ.

But what is it, what's the experience like? And to me, it's so, it's sonic. And it's, like, this cacophony of noise where it's like and then silence.

And that's the opening of the movie is you're, you're, you're thrust onto this, into this Thunderdome with this guy. And then all of a sudden, you're. Into this very small, almost like coffin-like environment.

And that's, that's, an emotional juggernaut for people. So that was something I thought of early on. And then there was just this property Warner Brothers had, and it.

And I thought, "Oh, I could explore all these things. Family, trauma. What happens if two people actually love each other? There's no infidelity. It's actually true love."

And even with that, it's hard. Mm. So these are things I wanted to explore, and then this property was perfect because it had music. And you can't hide when you sing, and I thought, "Well, this is, this would be the great way to do it."

So really was, it was really a combination. I didn't think in I never, I never, ever thought like, "You know what's a thing people should do? The fourth remake of A Star Is Born."

Host: No. Good. But let'I Bradley Cooper: definitely didn't do that. Host: And this is one like none other, so we're all going to pay money to see it. You can't hide if you sing.

You just said that. You didn't hide. You studied you took voice lessons for 18 months. You learned to play guitar.

And Lady Gaga required that you take all of the, do all of the singing live, that you weren't dubbing it. Yeah. So what was that all like? Bradley Cooper: Well, I. The music is a character in the movie.

You know? It's not like the movie takes a break and then all of a sudden there's a song. It actually has everything to do with the, with what's going on. It's almost, it is a scene.

My favorite scene of Lady Gaga's actually, acting-wise, is the final song, 'cause we watch this character go through the grieving process through the song, which I just. That's, what a, what a feat, acting feat she did. So it would've been.

It, we had no choice but to sing live. Now, that's much easier for her, and I thought, "How the heck am I gonna do that?" You know, 'cause she.

And the other thing is she's the real deal. I know I had the nuclear power of the movie. It's like, "Well, at least I have this in.

I can. If the movie sucks, at least there'll be like 10 moments where she's singing and it won't be horrendous." But I knew I had to lift the rest of the movie up to her level so you believe it. Otherwise, if you don't believe me as this character, you don't believe we're really on a stage singing in front of people.

If you don't believe that's Saturday Night Live, then there's no way I'm gonna be able to allow you to enter into this world and learn about her. So there was really no question that that had to happen. It was great that she felt so strongly about it as well.

But it added, it I mean, it's part of the DNA of the film. And Host: it's a beautiful story of Jackson Maine, a fading country music star with a alcohol problem, and Ally, who you discover and encourage, and you see her rise through the film. It's Bradley Cooper: funny when you say country star.

So when we started, writing it, I was trying to figure out where he was from, and I quite honestly thought like, "Maybe it's country 'cause I could kinda like, kind of fake sing and like, maybe get away with it." And then as I kept working and started to, like, fall in love and create this character, I swear if we had like six more months, he would've been like completely heavy metal.

Like, it kept getting, it kept getting, like, harder and harder. We've talked about this actually, what genre Jack's music is. Because it's definitely not country.

Host: You're right. Yeah. Although you do have a twang when you speak, and kind of that ruddy, red face that looks like you had too Bradley Cooper: But even with the twang Host: scotch. Bradley Cooper: That's a good question. So the, so in terms of his voice, that was the hardest thing actually, was lowering my voice, just about an octave.

And I wanted to pick an a voice that you couldn't place geographically. And Sam Elliott wound up being. Before I even thought about writing, the role for him, the voice that I studied.

So I would get all of these tapes of Sam Elliott interviews. That's crazy. And then you got him. And then, and then I was doing it.

And 'cause he's, he's born in Sacramento, which you'd never know. He's from California. But his mother was from Texas, so he's got this odd accent that you can't really place.

And then I was reading Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, and he was talking about stealing his father's voice. That's what he did as a kid. And I used to always want to be my dad.

And I thought, "Oh, what if Sam Elliott is his older brother and he stole his voice?" And so that's how that whole thing happened. Host: Wow. You're, so you both visualize and you have auditory things going through your creative process.

Yeah. Sounds like. Speaking about, auditory, there's someone in the audience who, gradually lost her hearing as a child, and is impressed by how accurately you portray the frustration and denial many people experience when losing their hearing. So her question is, do you have any personal experience with hearing loss, and how did you study to portray that aspect of the role so authentically? Bradley Cooper: Mm. Oh, well, I'm glad that you thought that.

Is the person here? Hi. Ah. Bradley, nice to meet you. I'm glad you felt that way.

I was born. I mean, here's the other thing. When you get to write the movie, you just, you cheat all the time because you just do everything that's real to you. Like, his choice of drink is crazy personal for me.

That's my dog, Charlie. That's my real dog. Aw. A bunch of my friends are in the movie, who I went to grad school with.

And the hearing loss, I wanted him to be like a prize fighter. Because in the other versions of the movies, he's so obsessed with fame, and his fame's dwindling. And I didn't want.

I had no interest in investigating that. What I and also, people today, everybody makes money touring. And a lot of these bands that had been maybe huge back 20 years ago still make a lot of money touring.

So the reality was he's fine. So it was more about what's, what's the wear and tear? And it takes a toll on your body, and I interviewed and spent time with tons of musicians.

And the thing that happens is hearing loss. That's the number one thing that goes, which makes sense. But I was born with a cholesteatoma in my eardrum, and it was removed.

And then I was kind of a I would always jump off of high places as a kid. Don't ask me why. And I kept puncturing it.

Ooh. And so I had all these operations, like five operations. I have a hole in my right ear. So when he's telling her that story in the bar, that's me.

That's all real. That's like, Host: Wow. Bradley Cooper: And so I don't have hearing loss, but I the, when I have ear infections, I hear that tinnitus sound, so I know it very well. And then it it was all about, in the mixing stage, creating, recreating that sound sonically for the audience.

So I'm glad you felt that way. Thank you. Host: There's something about determination and grit that has to go into pulling off something this epic. But also, you kind of jumped out of your actor skin and or the place that your fans for these past 20 years have had you as an actor and theater performer, into this surprise.

He's also a great director. There's a lot of press around just the shots. Mm. Close-in shots, lingering shots.

Like, just an intense visual experience that is all of a sudden your own in your first go at this. Of course, you've been in film for a while. But talk to us a little bit about that journey, that it, did it require grit, self-belief?

Did you ever doubt yourself? And are you surprised now at the reaction of the critics and the press around, wow. It's a new Bradley.

Bradley Cooper: I think it, you know, Elia Kazan said, "If you're gonna audition to play a cowboy, show up with a horse." Because people only know what they see. So I for me, it wasn't a shock because I've been thinking about shots since I was a kid, you know?

And observing movies and seeing like. And the movies that I love, its form always follows function. An arbitrary cool shot, if I'm watching a movie and then, and I'm aware as I'm watching in the movie of, "Oh, that's a cool shot," I'm, to me, that's not enjoyable as a, as a viewer of a film.

I wanna, I wanna sort of afterwards when I'm thinking about how I felt emotionally and say, "Oh, wow, Martin Scorsese, that was one shot as they went into the Copacabana. Oh, wow. Right." You know, that'Mm. That's the, that's the goal.

So there's no. So I you know, it's, and it's all character-based for this movie. Jackson takes his hat off when he's on stage. He wants to avoid the camera.

She doesn't even, she's not even aware of her talent. But the movie's telling you in the beginning, she comes out of the bathroom and she's in the center of the proscenium. She's on the stage already.

Mm. Even though she's in the bowels of a, of a, of a building in the bathroom. So you could do things like that cinematically with shots, but it's all based on story. And then by the end of the movie, he can't avoid the camera anymore.

So when he's in the bed with her, the camera's right on top of him, that he can't escape it. So the hope is that you're feeling these things, but you're not quite sure why, but it's because I'm manipulating it through the choice of the shot. And that's, that to me is what's fun about telling a story cinematically.

That's the whole point. Otherwise, I never would have tried to direct a movie if I didn't have a point of view of how I wanted to shoot it. Host: I asked you earlier, in what we call the green room, whether you're still planning to sing, play the guitar.

And you said there's one song you wanna go finish in the studio. So talk to us a little bit about that journey and whether you do it in the shower or you're gonna go back into the studio permanently.

Bradley Cooper: I did sing Shallow in the shower at the hotel the other night. I thought, "Can I still sing that song?" And so that was pretty.

It was okay, I think. It's, it, you it's, when you shower it all sounds good, doesn't it? No, I don't think.

I mean, here's the thing I love about what I get to do for a living, is I get to enter into a world, like a sociologist, you know? And learn about everything and soak it in, not just cerebrally, but also sensorially. And then get to transfer it into some sort of ritualistic performance.

So it's a wonderful way of learning. Host: Mm-hmm. Bradley Cooper: And this was incredible, and it took four years, six years when I thought about it. That's when I was at the concert with Metallica.

And the truth is, I've been lucky enough, there's something else that I feel that obsessed by now. So I'm kind of, my head and my heart is somewhere else now. And the, and I only know how to do this if I am completely in love with it.

Because as you said, it's true, it takes a tremendous amount of work. I mean, I edited the movie in my house, thank God, because we were pulling 16-hour days for, like, six months. Host: Wow. Bradley Cooper: And I just had a kid, so there was that too.

I'm always wondering if she's gonna, like, grow up and like, oh, 'cause of the set, 'cause we edit so loud, it was right below her bedroom. And I thought, "Oh, she's gonna hear this music for, like, the first six months of her life." That's really cool. I wonder if she's gonna, like, hate our music or love it.

Yeah. So I don't, I don't know how to do anything to this degree unless I completely love it. That said, I absolutely enjoyed singing, but I hope that what I wanna do, at least for the next decade or two, is to make movies. But there was that song Too Far Gone that's in the, cop bar, and I only wrote the first verse and chorus.

And I had, the other day I had this thought of the second verse and a bridge. So I'm gonna go finish that. So Host: he's a songwriter.

It'Well. Multi-talented. You just said you are a bit obsessive. So what are you obsessing about now?

Bradley Cooper: I don't wanna Oh, darn. 'cause if it doesn't happen, then it's like. Host: So I'd love to just ask you what you think these, the platforms that we have now, these technical platforms, but YouTube in specific, how has it enabled creativity?

How do you view it? Do you spend time consuming content Bradley Cooper: I mean, in Host: other devices? Bradley Cooper: The, in its best form, what these platforms and technology has given us is the means by which we can, create story in various forms, which is incredible.

I was talking to somebody, yesterday in Dallas about, you know, what took Stanley Kubrick six years to develop because he wanted to have some sort of flowing shot, you could do with your iPhone now. And then, and then you could post it. And the fact that you can get content out there is just incredible.

So it kind of goes back again, you just have to figure out what it is you wanna say and how to say it. Because the means by which you can tell that story are at our disposal, you know. It's almost too easy.

That's the other thing about shots. It's like, but form, to me at least, form still has to follow function. It all still has to do with what is it that you wanna say and how do you wanna say it.

And then use technology in order to help, you know, convey that. Host: Well, Bradley, thank you so much for having something beautiful to say, and the way in which you say it in A Star is Born. And I just wanna thank you for coming to Google Bradley Cooper: Thank you.

For being part Thanks for Host: having me. Talks at Google. Bradley Cooper: Thank you.