One of the most highly acclaimed actors and popular for voicing Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy, Bradley Cooper, has experienced major success in his Hollywood career. Along with a thriving acting career, Cooper has also directed and starred in the Oscar-nominated film A Star is Born. And his success credits are not limited to that, as he has also served as a producer for one of the most successful DC films.
The Hangover star is among the producers of Todd Phillips’ 2019 DC film Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix. And in the film’s making-of featurette, the actor shared the reason he got interested in the DC supervillain, Joker’s story.
How Bradley Cooper Got Involved With Todd Phillips’ Joker?
Bradley Cooper worked with the American director Todd Phillips in The Hangover trilogy. While the first film in the comedy movie series did pretty well commercially and critically, the sequels did not receive the same reception as the 2009 film.
He later worked with the director in the 2016 film War Dogs, and along with starring in the film, he also co-produced it. After the 2016 black comedy, the director shared his plans to direct an origin story for the DC villain Joker with Warner Bros. He later approached the Burnt star regarding the same and shared his ideals.
Phillips told him, “I have this crazy idea for this sort of alternate version of DC, and the first one is the origin story of Joker.” Cooper was impressed by his idea and believed that it was “so bold,” and no one would have been able to do it except The Hangover director.
“Todd has a very unique way of looking at things,” he shared, and called Phillis “viciously smart” to tell the story he wanted to share by breaking the boundaries. However, the Oscar-nominated actor also had some personal reasons for producing the 2019 film following the Clown Prince of Crime.
Bradley Cooper Loves Bad Guys
Bradley Cooper did not open up much about his involvement with the 2019 DC film until its release and talks about it in the film are making up featurette. He shared that he was impressed by Phillips’ ideas to humanize the supervillain who people have seen “wreck havoc in many forms” in TV shows, movies, comic books,s and many other mediums.
However, he also shared that he loves the DC villain and was happy to be a part of the project following the character. He said, “I just love bad guys.” Cooper shared that it’s intriguing to learn the story that turned these characters into villains, “and the Joker, I just liked his sense of mayhem and chaos.”
Todd Phillips’ 2019 film was a huge success and went on to gross over $1 billion at the box office. It received 11 nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, and Joaquin Phoenix won the Oscar for Best Actor for the film. Cooper is also associated with the sequel to the 2019 film along with Todd Phillips, which is set to release next year.
Joker is available on HBO Max.
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to release on 4 October 2024.
Source: Comicbook