The 2012 Sexiest Man Alive hasn’t been officially named yet, although everyone expects it to be the very worthy Channing Tatum. Those of us with a vested interest in these things are sort of biding our time until the much-derided 2011 winner, Bradley Cooper, ends his reign of mediocrity. It turns out that Cooper might share our sentiment about how unworthy he is. In a new interview with Nightline, airing tonight, Cooper said that he thought his co-star Dax Shepard was playing a joke on him when he first heard the news. He also considered turning down People’s offer, but decided to go with it.
This is all so insane.
I remember when I got the call, I was in the trailer we were in between shots. I really did think it was a joke… I thought Dax Shepard did it. I was certain.
They were like ‘No, it’s real’ and I thought ‘people aren’t going to like that.’ I thought ‘this isn’t a good thing.’
I said ‘Do I have to do it? Can I say no?’ They’re like ‘yeah, you could, but be thankful.’
On being picketed by Ryan Gosling fans
It was brutal [laughs] and yeah there was some cheer they made, and oh my God.
I don’t know what it is about Bradley Cooper lately, but I’m really warning up to him. He’s coming onto his own, and he’s coming across really well. He’s not all stiff and guarded like he was when he first hit the scene.
I still remember his totally boring, milquetoast People video celebrating his Sexiest win. He seemed so out of it! I just rewatched it. It makes a lot of sense now when I realize how ambivalent he was about it.
Cooper is promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he plays a bipolar guy who falls in love with Jennifer Lawrence’s misfit character. It’s directed and written by David O. Russell (The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees) and it actually looks really good. In another recent interview, with The Wall St. Journal, Cooper was very gracious when asked his roles and playing offbeat characters. He said “I don’t think I realized how much that ‘sexy man’ title follows you. Any interview I do, it’s always brought up. Now that I’m doing ‘Silver Linings,’ I’ve heard people say, “This is him trying to show that he’s a serious actor.” But I’m as proud of Phil in ‘The Hangover’ as I am of Pat Solatano. This role was very demanding, but I don’t feel like I’m taking it more seriously than anything else I’ve done. So there has never been a conscious decision to try to do more serious roles.” The rest of the interview is just as good and interesting. Cooper is letting us know who he is, and I’m starting to really like him. Don’t shoot me, but maybe the folks at People just saw his potential before we did.
Ok, after I wrote all that I saw these photos of Cooper looking rough last week at the AFI film fest. He looks tired and he needs a haircut and a shave. That scruff is not working for him. He looks like Shaggy on Scooby Doo! He’s probably just as high as Shaggy usually is too.
Photo credit: FameFlynet
always go with your first instinct buddy.. although I’m kinda looking forward to Silver Linings Playbook.
Agree. He should have just turned it down. The Ryan Gosling fans though took things too seriously. It’s not even about looks just who had the biggest hits that year. Should be changed to ‘World’s most successful box office winner this year’.
I remember seeing him on Letterman saying how he had seen hot pics of Gosling and realised he wasnt all that hot himself. It should have come across as self-deprecating and humble instead it just sounded like calculated backtracking. As my husband said, “what straight man searches pics of another man to gauge his sexiness?”. To which I responded, “a closetted one or a deeply narcissistic and overly-competitive one”.
Or he could be kind of man who is in the public eye, who is seen as a heartthrob, and is taking a look at who he is being compared to or with whom he is being connected for whatever reason. He is not narcissistic or closeted just because he took a look at another guy’s pictures – that’s just absurd – nor is he overly competitive for doing something is as simple as that. Come on, you know that.
I like BCoop because he is a good son and seems like a decent guy. He is also a smart, educated guy, and I don’t believe for a second that he was ambivalent about it. He is being coy and saying what everyone wants to hear.
My thoughts exactly. I read this headline and thought “Bitch, please.” He was all over it.
As for warming up to him and recognizing his potential, I get that. But it still doesn’t add up to “Sexiest Man Alive.” Not by a long shot, lol.
Right, because this title is totally not negotiated by the publicist of the “winner” or anything.
Yep. He clearly campaigned for it. I think he was gunning to be some big Marquee Star in the vein of Cruise and Pitt, remember he had 2 big studio films out at that time.
Now hes switched gears and is trying to build up credibility by doing the Indie Circuit like Gosling/Gordon-Levitt/Hardy. And to do that he needs to seem ‘driven by the Art’, hipsters do not read People. Its all very cynical. I.E business as usual.
Honestly, the bit that upsets me here is that if he was a starlet, the article would call him out on this BS far more. It feels like an example of how much harder women are on one another and how we perpetuate Mysoginy just as much as guys.
Oh yeah, definitely not a set up. He and his publicist campaigned for it, no doubt.
Does anyone remember the Larry Sanders Show episode where Larry is in the running for Sexies Man Alive? This reminds me of that.
Eh, I can’t get too worked up over who People chooses for sexiest man. It’s all a marketing ploy to move magazines.
I can’t really get that worked up over it either.
But I do love that issue – with all the men they put in there, at least there is something for everyone.
Ummm, wasn’t it a joke?
He thought it was a joke and so did we. That would have been one of the greatest punks Ashton Kutcher could have pulled.
Aww, I can’t believe his PR team did not tell him about that. They were the responsible one, same with the Potato’s PR team.
I thought it was a joke too. Good actor, but there is nothing sexy about him at all.
I read on several sites that Ryan Gosling turned it down last year so they went with their second choice, BCoop.
At least they’re not giving it to Justin Theroux out of default!
Fake humility is so endearing…in a man. Cooper is said to be a Grade A a-hole, but at least he has a d-ck, right? 🙂 Not that he’ll use it on anyone here, beyond the obvious reasons.
oh man… his eyes look like mine after a few bong hits. LOL!
He does seem to have that perpetually stoned look.
And Shaggy from Scooby Doo was stoned?!!
Suddenly so many aspects of my childhood make sense…
I know, I had the same shocked reaction to the Shaggy comment! I’m so naive.
I thought it was a joke, too.
Seems like a nice, smart guy and his fluency in French is mesmerizing
Does anyone even care about the People Mags Sexiest man any more. If you go back to the past winners.. so many of them have fallen into oblivion. Careers really not that great. I don’t care because I just found the last selections so far off the mark. Such a shame because when they use to pick the guy.. it was a consensus. Most people agreed and understood. But many of the male stars are missing that IT. so this is what we have left.
He’s an acquired taste…I love that in him
I like him. I think he’s cute. I even like his shaggy stoner look. Plus, he’s got a nice body. Seeing him with his shirt unbuttoned was the only appealing thing about “The Hangover 2” (a truly terrible sequel IMO).
I have never found him attractive, he isnt my type i know lots of girlks think that he is cute but i never have, i think ryan gosling is way cuter
Funny, that’s what I thought, too.
When I think of sexy, I think Pierce Brosnan, Denzal Washington, Warren Beatty. Bradley Cooper doesn’t cross my mind as being sexy. Good looking-yes. Sexy-no. I still can’t help but think that his PR team literally bought him the title to elevate the public perception that BC is straight when everyone in HW knows the opposite is true.