39+ Fun Facts about the Best Bradley Cooper Movies

Bradley Cooper is one of the most acclaimed actors in Hollywood today. From his role as Pat Solitano in Silver Linings Playbook to his portrayal of Rocket the Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy, Cooper has shown that he can master any type of role. With leading roles in more than 17 movies, Cooper has grossed more than $2.8 billion with those films alone.

But what makes him so special? How much do fans really know about each of his movies? Let’s take a look at a few of the best Bradley Cooper movies and uncover some fun facts about each of the productions.

Fun Facts about Bradley Cooper’s Movies

While in school, Cooper gained plenty of experience acting. However, his first appearance on screen didn’t happen until 1999 when he landed a small role in the HBO hit series Sex and the City. However, despite notable roles in 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer and 2002’s Bending All the Rules, he wouldn’t get his big break for another decade, with the premiere of 2009’s The Hangover.

The Hangover Movies

• The Hangover was Bradley Cooper’s first big film break. Directed by Todd Phillips, it remains to be one of the highest-grossing R-rated films ever.
• The Hangover movies all revolve around the theme of alcohol intoxication but in real life, Bradley Cooper does not drink at all. He quit drinking alcohol when he was 29 years old.
• As early as two months before the first film was released, Hangover II was already in the development stage. They were so confident of the film’s success that they knew a sequel would be imminent.
• By the third film, the stars felt that the film had run its course. Zach Galifianakis had to convince co-star Bradley Cooper to do the project. Part of the reason the stars finally agreed was the $15 million salary each of them received, in addition to a handsome back-end deal.

The A-Team

• Part of the cast’s preparation for the film was a weapons training course. Bradley Cooper did so well and took less than four seconds to reload an M4 rifle. Unfortunately, this newly acquired skill was not included in the final cut.
• Sharlto Copley, who plays Murdock, was not allowed by his mother to watch The A-Team television series as a child because of too much violence. He did see the show when he was at his friends’ houses and it was on.
• A sequel was initially in the plans. Unfortunately, the film did not do very well at the box office so it was canceled.

Silver Linings Playbook

• This highly critically acclaimed film got a total of eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting categories. Cooper received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role in the flick.
• Jennifer Lawrence is a self-proclaimed terrible dancer. Her iconic ballroom dance scene with Cooper took weeks of practice before it was finally completed. Cooper, on the other hand, was quite effortless in executing the moves.
• Bradley Cooper plays a character who is from Philadelphia, where he is in fact originally from in real life. Cooper avidly cheers for the Philadelphia Eagles.

American Hustle

• Christian Bale was selected for the lead but because of conflicts, had to withdraw. Cooper took over the starring role and Jeremy Renner replaced Cooper as the FBI agent. A few weeks in, Bale became available and reclaimed the lead role and the two actors returned to their original roles.
• Bradley Cooper’s character Richie DiMaso had a perm and wore curlers in his apartment. This hairstyle was Cooper’s idea.
• American Hustle is based on the notorious Abscam in the 1970s, which resulted in the arrest of Camden, New Jersey mayor, Angelo Errichetti. In May 2013, just months prior to the release of the film, Errichetti died at the age of 84 and never got to see the film.

American Sniper

• Bradley Cooper had to gain more than 40 pounds of muscle for his role as Chris Kyle in the Clint Eastwood-directed American Sniper. To do this, he consumed 6,000 calories every day, which required him to have a meal every hour or so. He also did intensive daily workouts for months.
• In a scene in the movie where Cooper was deadlifting, he was using actual 425-pound weights, which is double his own body weight. The producers wanted him to use dummy weights but Cooper insisted on the real deal.
• Of Bradley Cooper’s movies that he produced and also starred in, American Sniper performed the best at the box office, with more than $547 million in worldwide sales.

Guardians of the Galaxy

• For international distribution, films are usually dubbed by voice actors in the local language. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Vin Diesel recorded his lines in at least six languages, including German, French, and Russian. This way, his distinct voice can be used in all versions of the film.
• For voicing the character of Rocket Raccoon, Bradley Cooper received a salary that was worth more than what he got from Silver Linings Playbook and The Hangover combined.
• Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon pokes fun at Quill in the film, calling his backpack a purse. This is in reference to Cooper’s line in The Hangover, where he also calls another character’s satchel a purse.

Joy

• This film is the fourth of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper’s movies together. They have previously worked together in Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and
• Robert DeNiro plays Jennifer Lawrence’s father in Joy. In Silver Linings Playbook where the three actors also played the leading characters, DeNiro played Bradley Cooper’s dad.
• Joan Rivers is one of the characters in Joy and the part is played by her daughter Melissa Rivers.

Burnt

• As part of his preparation for the role, Bradley Cooper underwent intensive chef training with Clare Smyth. Smyth is the executive chef of the 3-Michelin star restaurant of Gordon Ramsay in London.
• The extras in the kitchen during the film were real chefs. Also, the kitchen scenes included actual hazards like sharp knives and hot stoves. All this increased the pressure on the actors during the food prep scenes.
• When he was a child, Bradley Cooper had two dreams. He was either going to be an actor or a chef.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

• In the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, Bradley Cooper did the voice of Rocket. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Cooper did both the voice and the facial expressions. This was done with the help of a motion capture headpiece.
• Vin Diesel did versions of his Groot lines in six languages for the first film. In this sequel, he recorded multiple versions of his line “I Am Groot” in 16 different languages.
• The opening credits of the film included a dance sequence by Groot, choreographed and performed for motion capture by James Gunn. The visual effects team took almost two years to finish rendering the sequence for the film.

A Star Is Born

• For the 2018 drama A Star Is Born, Cooper received an Academy Award nomination not just once but three times. These were for Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay.
• One of Lady Gaga’s pet peeves was seeing actors visibly lip-syncing to songs in movies. To avoid this, she convinced Cooper that they should sing live. Because of this, Cooper had to get more vocal training to prepare.
• The drag queens in the film delivered some very entertaining lines and candid jokes. Most of this was not part of the script and was completely improvised but was very good so Cooper kept them in the final cut.

Avengers: Endgame

• The now iconic line from Avengers: Endgame, “I love you 3000″, came from Robert Downey Jr. He was telling the film’s directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, that one of his kids said this phrase to him. The brothers thought the line was great and put it in the film.
• As always, Stan Lee appeared in his requisite cameo in Avengers: Endgame. What’s interesting in this cameo is that his real 1970s look was recreated for the scene.
• Before 2019, the movie Titanic held the all-time box office record. When Avengers: Endgame broke the record, Titanic producer James Cameron sent Marvel Studios a congratulatory note. He also sent a photo of the Titanic sinking, and the Avengers ‘A’ as the iceberg.

Licorice Pizza

• Singer Alana Haim and her real-life siblings play the roles of her family members in Licorice Pizza. They are actually members of the Haim rock band, which has received Grammy nominations.
• The film’s writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson had directed several music videos for Haim prior to the film. As a child, the girls’ mother, Donna Haim, was his elementary teacher whom he had a crush on growing up.
• This movie is the film debut of actor Cooper Hoffman. He is the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who had worked on numerous collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson.

Nightmare Alley

• Filming for Nightmare Alley was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The earlier scenes in the movie were filmed when production resumed. During the break, Bradley Cooper cut down his weight by 15 pounds to look younger for the early scenes.
• Director Guillermo del Toro wanted the character of Stanton Carlisle to display traces of a violent past through body language. For this reason, he had Bradley Cooper learn to box in preparation for the role.
• The lead role played by Cooper was originally given to Leonardo DiCaprio, who had wanted to accept the role. But due to conflicts with regards to finances, DiCaprio withdrew from the project and the role went to Cooper.

Wondering what the upcoming Bradley Cooper movies are? He lends his voice to Rocket the Raccoon once again in this May’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Additionally, he’s also set to star in Maestro, which he also wrote and directed. The film is expected to release this year on Netflix and is produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.