FILM

Venue talks to rising star Bradley Cooper about the pressures of starring alongside screen legend Robert De Niro in ‘Limitless’. 

You probably recognise the face, even if you don't know the name. Thirty-six year-old Bradley Cooper seemed doomed to be a perennial supporting player after a string of small roles in the likes of 'Yes Man', 'The Rocker', 'He's Just Not That Into You' and 'Wedding Crashers'. Then came the unexpected hit of summer 2009, 'The Hangover', in which he played unhappily married schoolteacher Phil. Rather less successfully, he was Faceman in the, ahem, 'reboot' of 'The A-Team'. All this second-division slogging has finally paid off with a lead role opposite Robert De Niro in 'Limitless', the new film from 'The Illusionist' director Neil Burger. Cooper plays a blocked New York writer who's offered a miracle drug named NZT that promises to unlock his mind's full potential.

With this and 'The Hangover 2' in the can, 2011 could prove to be his big year. "Let’s hope so," he laughs. "You never know. You just never fucking know. You try to make the best movie you can, but you never know how it will be received."

Still, working with De Niro on your first big film must be a nerve-wracking experience. "I got over it. I auditioned for him a couple of times for this other movie ['Everybody’s Fine' by Bristolian director Kirk Jones] a year or two ago. I put myself on tape at home, with my mother actually reading his role. I just thought, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to put myself on tape.’ And Bob had seen it. Somehow… I guess somehow it got slipped to him, this tape I’d made at my house – with my mother doing De Niro."

Was it hard not to plug him for anecdotes about his old movies? "What’s hard is not to act like him when you’re with him! That was hard. I’m sure that happens to him a lot. There were a lot of moments where I’m acting and I thought ‘He knows I’m just doing him to him’- and I’m not even coming up with an original approach."

 So what about 'The A-Team' then? That was a bit of a stinker. What did the original stars make of it? "I haven’t talked to anybody afterwards. Dirk Benedict did a cameo, so I got to meet him while we were doing it, and it was great talking to him. I’d read Mr T had seen it and hated it, which didn’t make any sense to me, because I knew that he’d not seen it. I loved 'The A-Team'."

On a happier note, advance word on 'The Hangover 2', which opens at the end of May, suggests that it could prove to be one of the blockbuster season's highlights. Cooper enthuses that the script is even better than the first one, while sticking firmly to the formula that made it such a success. Presumably the fact that it's set in Bangkok this time round offers plenty of opportunity for even greater excess. "That’s where Todd’s [director Todd Phillips] genius comes into play. No city could’ve trumped Vegas except for Bangkok! Vegas is a poor man’s Bangkok. Bangkok is a whole other level."

Back to 'Limitless', then. It's obviously a cautionary tale, but could it also be interpreted as a morality tale about responsibility? "I’d say… more than the responsibility, it’s a reality tale in the sense of ‘What does power mean?’ Thematically. What is it to have power in life over other people in order to get what you want? What is it that you want, if you have that power at your disposal? What are the ramifications of it?"

And if Bradley Cooper had such power, what would he use it for? "To make an unlimited supply of food! I would eat myself to death!"

'LIMITLESS' OPENED ON FRI 25 MAR.  FOR REVIEW CLICK HERE

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