As a gossip blogger, I read TONS of celebrity interviews. By the time the Oscars roll around, I’ve probably read dozens of interviews with the same nominees saying the exact same thing. That’s the thing about an Oscar campaign: you have a narrative and you tell (or perform) that narrative over and over and over for months. You tell the same stories over and over. It’s boring and tedious and that’s why everyone is so miserable by the time the Oscars roll around. Well, Bradley Cooper really wants some Oscars for A Star Is Born. The Oscar campaign kicked off at the Venice Film Festival and that’s when the narratives took hold. And I’m already sick of it. Bradley and Gaga are just telling the same f–king stories in every damn interview!! Did you know that they sang together at the piano during her audition? Did you know that Gaga was surprised by his voice? Of course you knew, because it’s all they can talk about. Anyway, here’s more of the same in W Magazine:

Before they met, he was only vaguely aware of Lady Gaga. “I didn’t really know who she was… I was at a cancer benefit with my mother. I really did not know Lady Gaga’s music. They had a surprise musical guest, and Stefani came out with her hair slicked back, and she sang ‘La Vie en Rose.’ I was blown away, like in that old Maxell cassette commercial where the guy’s hair is blown back. I called her agent the next day and said, ‘Can I go to her house and meet her right away?’ I drove to Malibu, and we sat on her porch, and the next thing I know, I’m eating spaghetti and meatballs, and I said, ‘Can we sing a song together?’ ”

He was so happy when they sang together: “I was so happy at that moment. I’m from an Italian background, and so is she. We were immediately comfortable with each other. We made a kind of deal: I believed in her as an actress, and she believed in me as a musician. I wanted there to be a meta aspect to the film, and Stefani gave me that. Also, no actress can do musically what I needed Stefani to do in 42 days of shooting: I needed plutonium. And the plutonium in A Star Is Born is Stefani’s voice.”

He tweaked the original narrative of “jealousy”: “I didn’t care about a guy who is envious of someone else becoming famous. I liked the idea of a real love story, two people who are broken in different ways, find each other, but can’t really be fixed.”

How he prepared for the role while Irina Shayk was pregnant: In order to play Maine and coordinate all aspects of production, Cooper set up a kind of boot camp for six months in his Los Angeles home. “We mapped out my entire schedule, day by day,” Cooper said. “I’d wake up and work out, followed by two hours of guitar practice and two hours of piano lessons. Lunch. Then Lukas Nelson [Willie’s son], my collaborator, would come over, and we’d write music for one and a half hours. I’d write the screenplay for the rest of the day. Irina was pregnant, so it was kind of perfect. Lea was born a week before we started shooting.”

He’s an underdog: “I’ve always been an underdog. I was always operating under the lens of not really being seen as the ‘main guy.’ ” I suggested that after A Star Is Born, it would be impossible for anyone to underestimate him again. “Maybe. But who knows? I’ve heard it all in my career. Early on, I didn’t get a role because they said I wasn’t ‘f–kable.’  In the end, you have to reserve your attention for the work and not listen to anyone. People I care about, who care about me, told me not to direct A Star Is Born, said that it would be too difficult and I should start with something easier. Luckily, I didn’t listen. I loved that it was really, really hard to make this film. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have the same value. And that’s always been my goal: to make something, no matter how challenging, that will be remembered.”

[From W Magazine]

The last few parts are the only “new to me” pieces of information. I didn’t know that Irina gave birth to Lea just one week before the production began – poor Irina, man, that’s tough. Bradley was obsessing over his film and not their baby girl. As for Bradley being told that he wasn’t “leading man” material or “f–kable”… I mean, women are told that all the time in Hollywood. Bradley was in a “character actor” box for years, and I can sort of see – don’t hate me – why he wouldn’t be seen as a leading man, or particularly sexy. Because he wasn’t. He’s still not, really. But I honestly think the whole reason why B-Coop became a leading man in his 30s is that he finally “grew into” his looks. He aged well, his face filled out a bit, he didn’t look so bird-like (Emu, #NeverForget). Facial hair helped a bit. But even then…do you want to sleep with him? Mm, no, not in my case. But everybody’s different.

Cover courtesy of W Magazine, additional photos courtesy of WENN.