Bradley Cooper recently opened up about what helped him in replacing Leonardo Di Caprio in ‘Nightmare Alley’ and we think it is very brave of him.
How often times have we seen celebrities being vulnerable and true to themselves? Not often, right? When we see scroll through our social media, we see a gleefully smiling celebrity, who from the looks of it, has no worry in the world. However, underneath all of that smile and laughter, lies a person, who gets insecure and jealous, just like all of us. Recently, actor Bradley Cooper revealed what made him replace Leonardo Di Caprio in ‘Nightmare Alley’ and we believe that it is as real as it can get.
Highlights
- What is ‘Nightmare Alley’ about?
- Bradley Cooper on replacing Leonardo Di Caprio
What is the plotline of ‘Nightmare Alley’?
Nightmare Alley is a 2021 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro from a script by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name. It is Gresham’s second feature film adaptation, following the 1947 original.
The film stars Bradley Cooper as a charming and ambitious carnival worker with a mysterious past who takes great risks to advance his profession.
The premise of the film is set in 1939 and the plotline revolves around Stan Carlisle, who joins a travelling circus as a carny after disposing of a deceased person by burning down a house. He sees a geek show in which a psychotic man is forced to eat a live chicken. Stan rapidly gains the respect of the troupe and its owner, Clem. Stan discovers that Clem recruits alcoholics with a terrible background as his geeks, enticing them in with the pretense of temporary employment and then frequently dosing them with opium-laced alcohol before compelling them to perform the acts in order to keep their jobs.
Bradley Cooper openly talks about his insecurity
In a conversation with Mahershala Ali “Variety‘s” “Actors on Actors” series, Cooper revealed the reason why he replaced Leonardo Di Caprio and said it was because of “insecurity and ego”. He said,
“’Nightmare Alley’ was an interesting example of how insecure I am. I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I still am the guy that wants to be in the group.’ Because I had no intention of acting in anything other than what I’ve been writing.”
He further added, “Leonardo DiCaprio fell out, and Guillermo del Toro came to me. I still remember thinking, ‘Oh, wow, the guys that don’t hire me, they want to hire me?’ And then it was like, ‘Of course, I have to do it just because I’ve never been allowed into that group.’ It was insecurity and ego,”
Additionally, Cooper also said that it ended up being a wonderful experience, “Thankfully, it wound up being an incredible experience. And that was very interesting to me to play a character, Stanton Carlisle, who has clearly been traumatized as a kid, has no parental foundation, has no foundation for love, intimacy, real connection, and he just is surviving off of gratification and a desperate need to find out who he is.”
This is what Director Del Toro had to say about Bradley Cooper in ‘Nightmare Alley’
According to Del Toro, the director of ‘Nightmare Alley’, Cooper nailed the film’s closing sequence in one take. During a Q&A session in New York, Toro said, “We’re going to shoot this 50, 60 times, whatever we need. And … take one. “When we finished that day, I was crying and he was crying, and I went, ‘One more?'”
“This is a moment that, I think, Bradley is playing so many chords — not playing, they’re coming out of him,”
He further also added
Have you seen ‘Nightmare Alley’ yet? If yes, then did you like Bradley Cooper’s character in the movie?
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