Bradley Cooper will continue to talk about "A star is born" as long as you leave it

The Oscar buzz is not new to 43-year-old Cooper, who joins Gregory Peck and Marlon Brando as one of the ten nominees to be nominated three years in a row. But this season of awards will be his first as a director – and one that even skeptics are starting to take seriously. The humble Bradley Cooper, known for his acolytes and shakes, has disappeared. Here is Bradley Cooper, a humble and talented author, known for his role in the Oscar-nominated "American Hustle," "American Sniper," and now, to rejuvenate a blazon Hollywood story.

With "A Star Is Born", which begins Friday, Cooper launches into shoes previously worn by Fredric March, James Mason and Kris Kristofferson in the male lead. Jackson Maine is an alcohol-thirsty musician who discovers and quickly falls in love with a troubled singer named Ally (Gaga, who succeeds Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand). His career is taking off as he crumbles, a process accelerated by his fight against addiction, and a tasteful melodrama follows.

[Review: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s hotly anticipated film is here — and it is lavishly delightful]

In his version of the film, Cooper stands out from his predecessors in terms of plot and characters, but he makes sure to include subtle Easter eggs, like Ally humming "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in tribute to Garland. The new director claims to have always admired the deeply personal and epic nature of Hal Ashby's work. The setting of "A Star Is Born" allowed him to create a world similar to the one he dreamed of creating.

"I've always thought in cinematic terms, just because I loved cinema so much by growing up," Cooper says. "The cinema was the place where I could search and find those personal things in me that I wanted to share with people, because movies were for me a source of healing – and are healing, to this day. "

Cooper and his co-star Lady Gaga are getting married on the red carpet of their movie. Cooper compared Gaga to his soul mate. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP)

"A star is born" So long locked in development that years ago, the plan was that Clint Eastwood runs Beyoncé as the incumbent. The singer left the project at the end of 2012 due to scheduling issues. The project was recorded on the Warner Bros. back burner. until early 2015, when the news was announced after Eastwood and Cooper collaborated on "American Sniper" that the latter would be entrusted with the direction. reins.

Cooper puts a lot of stock in his dreams, which he mentions some this morning. He remembers the night he and Eastwood had seen Annie Lennox perform a rewrite of "I Put a Spell on You" so passionate that it inspired her to revive the idea of ​​redoing "A star is born", which Eastwood no longer wanted to lead.

"I woke up and called Greg Silverman, who at the time was at the helm of Warner Brothers, and I said," Can I introduce this crazy idea to you before I get there? Does she leave my brain? "Cooper said casually, as movie stars of his stature do. "I arrived and I was jumping into the room talking about different things with the camera, and he said," Okay, go write it. "And that was it!"

At Jefferson, Cooper laughs a little by telling how much the story makes him look like a "madman" attacking people with a makeup remover. The background, he says, is the need to turn a 10-page scene that he wrote and that starts with Ally's alarm clock. He took a wipe from Gaga's makeup artist and asked if he could remove the makeup of the singer, because Ally, as he explained in a detailed story, would not have slept with.

"And that was the story," he says. "Does it make sense, not so scary?"

No, not so scary.

"I'm happy, let's leave it clear, for the sake of God."

According to Cooper, Gaga still images without make-up would clear things up even more, going back to his phone's photo library. The chemistry between the two is undeniable, and they seem to publicly boast about every chance they have. Today, he compares her to a soul mate.

Cooper says his esophagus is injured during the first months of Jackson's deep voice, intended to serve as a "base note", in addition to that of Ally "arising in the soprano". It is quite astonishing to hear the gritty screech of a body-shaven man wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat, as opposed to a bearded country rock star dressed in neutral tones.

While training for the live performances of the film, Cooper also collaborated with the dialect coach, Tim Monich, to choose the other model designer of the Jackson hybrid accent. Cooper chooses Sam Elliott, the actor with the southern legacy born in Sacramento and renowned for his drawling voice only for his big mustache.

Inspired by Bruce Springsteen, remarking in his autobiography that he had "taken his father's voice," Cooper rewrote his screenplay to include such a tense story between Jackson and his acting brother, Bobby, whom Elliott would play with hope. Cooper then asked Elliott to come in and gave him an audio cassette imitating an interview Elliot had made at Sundance two years ago.

"I did not know it was going to think that I was an idiot, if I was angry at myself or if I was rushing to the door because I was a crazy sycophant" says Cooper. "I launched him all the history. He said yes, thank you God.

Whatever his modesty, Cooper is the kind of person with enough influence to call people at random and offer them a role in a big studio shot. He is also the kind of person who nonchalantly denounces the names of famous musicians he knows personally and who inspired Jackson as a character: Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Lars Ulrich, Eddie Vedder and even Noel Gallagher, whom Cooper hopes to see. to follow closely. performance in the film and "no, like, make fun of me."

But even more than any idiosyncratic musicians, Cooper wants to watch the movie with those who have addiction problems and believe that he has "acted" well. The actor himself has been sober for years, having already faced similar problems, and says the film "could only be brutally honest".

The concern for doing things well for himself and the communities portrayed "carries all my brain and soul," says Cooper. Positive feedback, which in his opinion was stronger in Toronto than in Venice, was just another benefit.

"I said that to Stefani – I've never had a reception like this," he says. "I was part of incredible movies that people really seem to react to, but there was something about it."

At the mention of his name, Cooper picks up his phone and pursues his relentless pursuit for the audition images by discussing the fact that he would not have been able to make such a personal film. he had no partner on the screen ready to do it. to be as open as she was. He felt vulnerable in Venice, showing his "feelings, contemplations and ideas" to the world.

"And then there was a blackout for 20 minutes in the middle of the film," he laughs. "What I really liked, the blackout. . . . Life in terms of life. "

The conversation is coming to an end and Cooper promises to text each time he finds them. Ten minutes later, he does it. There is Lady Gaga, lying in bed with the sun shining behind her in one of the cases, gently stretches out her hand to turn off the alarm clock in another. The black and white images are beautiful and remarkably peaceful.

They are worth waiting for.