The 47-year-old American Actor and Filmmaker, Bradley Cooper has received amazing reviews for his performance in his most recent movie “Nightmare Alley.”
The film is based on the novel of the same name and directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara alongside Bradley Cooper.
Even after receiving rave reviews for Bradley’s performance, the film wasn’t a hit at the box office.
However, Bradley Cooper who portrayed the character of Stanton Carlisle in the film wasn’t the director’s first choice for the role. It was Leonardo DiCaprio, whom Guillermo was originally going to cast as Stanton.
During an interview with Variety, Bradley Cooper opened up about replacing Leonardo DiCaprio and how not being the first choice disclosed his own insecurities.
Bradley 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. 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.”
Cooper continued, “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.”
“In this movie, a lot of things happened on the day. It felt like Stanton taught Guillermo and me about where this exploration into humanity could go. It was terrifying for both Guillermo and myself because of that; it was really going into the unknowing. The whole movie leads towards the end, where finally someone tells him who he is.” He added.
