Bradley Cooper was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, likely pre-taped because he was out for dinner last night in LA with Irina Shayk for Valentine’s Day. Colbert presented Bradley with his Grammy for “Shallow” and, of course, they talked about A Star is Born, during Oscar voting week, when many Oscar voters are watching Colbert. Bradley expressed his appreciation for Colbert for supporting ASIB – Colbert has great things to say about the film, which is definitely a win for the ASIB Oscar campaign; he’s really throwing his full support behind ASIB here, to the point of film nerdiness, talking about cinematography and direction and…well… this is way better than “debunking myths”. And then they play his shame-crying scene.
It’s the scene when Ally goes to see Jackson in rehab and he apologises and he’s so embarrassed, and it’s a great piece of acting, how raw he is, how ashamed he is, as she’s assuring him that she’s not ashamed of him. To me, these are the moments I’d be leaning more into, the work that goes into that kind of vulnerability. We cry for all kinds of reasons. Crying out of shame, over the memory of something you desperately wish you could take back, is a specific kind of grief and he really, really nailed it. I wonder, over the last few months, if Coop’s performance as an actor has been overlooked in the strategy.
Here’s the first part of the interview, and below that it’s the part where he talks about how he developed his Jackson Maine voice:
Maybe it’s not too late for him to make a run for Best Actor? Or has Rami Malek locked it up?
As for his dinner with Irina, they went to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, forever known to me as Rihanna’s favourite restaurant. Coop goes there often too though. He was seen there last year with his BFF Sean Penn and also Brad Pitt, among others, when Sean was releasing his book, a masterpiece called something something Honey Bob.
Seeing Coop and Irina at Valentine’s Day dinner probably wasn’t great for the Bradley-Lady Gaga conspiracy theorists out there – and they’re out there. This happens whenever two people have chemistry onscreen. And to call back to the previous post about Gaga and her engagement, they’re probably aware of this and…well…I’m sure you have someone in your life who has been watching the Coop and Gaga dynamic at these premieres and award shows. I have a friend who keeps texting me, “Why is she pawing him? I would be furious if I was Irina!”
I mean, I don’t see it that way, all I see is that that is pure Gaga – extra and emotive, not unlike Celine Dion, just not as Celine. I’m not feeling here that Gaga is secretly in love with Coop. Some people see it that way though. Some of you probably see it that way. No matter what you believe though, they’re not actively encouraging it – like they’re not Lana Condor and Noah Centineo here with fueling the Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky thing. They never pushed that angle to sell the movie. Which, ironically, if Coop and Gaga HAD pushed that angle, no one would have believed it.
