Last year at this time, Bradley Cooper was enjoying the success of A Star is Born. The film picked up heat out of award season and went on to several Oscar nominations. Which meant months of campaigning and, well, that can wear on a person. There didn’t seem to be a lot of fun in Bradley’s campaign strategy. You’ll recall that tense interview between him and Taffy Brodesser-Akner  – everything around the ASIB campaign, for Coop, seemed so serious? 

Why so serious?

Funny you ask, because he could be back at the Oscars this year with Joker. Joker won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival a few weeks ago and now that the movie – oh, no, wait, sorry…the FILM – is a certified smash at the box office, its Oscar chances just got even better with Joaquin Phoenix a lock on a Best Actor nomination and Joker, possibly, getting in with a Best Picture nomination. In which case, Bradley Cooper would be there repping because he’s one of the three listed producers. So if they’re mounting a campaign, how much involvement will Bradley have? 

Will he be like George Clooney for Argo? George and Grant Heslov produced Argo with Ben Affleck. Neither one appeared in the film. But they were out there hustling for those nominations and that eventual Best Picture win. Is that how Bradley will approach it? Or will he remain behind the scenes, lobbying his connections quietly? He’s been quiet all year, steadily prepping his Bernstein film and getting ready to shoot two other projects. That said, if Warner Bros feels like Joker might have a chance, they’ll want all hands on deck. Everyone has to factor in studio relationships during Oscar campaigns so I’m curious how visible – or not – Bradley will be. 

Here he is in New York this week, spending time with his daughter (not pictured) after taking her to the Eagles game on Sunday. 

In other Coop news, he appears in a new documentary about Mark Ronson – a trailer has just dropped. Reminds me I have a Mark Ronson story to tell. At TIFF 2018, Traci Melchor and I were at a screening of The Hate U Give at Roy Thomson Hall, seated in the nosebleeds. I mean we were up there. I think there were only two rows behind us? Mark Ronson, who was at TIFF for A Star is Born, was sitting beside us…in the nosebleeds… by himself. Remember, he would go on to win an Oscar for “Shallow”. But that night, he just wanted to see a movie on his own.