Our. Om studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Bradley cooper stars in and produce the new Clint Eastwood film american sniper. Heres is the trailer for the film. A military age male on a cell phone watching the con babe convoy. Oldaybe he is calling his 80. Lady. He stepped off. Hold on. I got a woman and a kid 20 yards out moving toward the convoy. Harms are not swinging. She is carrying something. She got a grenade. Eyes on this. Can you confirm . Your call. They fried your funeral. Bradley cooper also starring as joseph marek in the production of the elephant man. Inspirede role that him to become an actor. I spoke with him at the booth theater. Here is that conversation. What is it like when you think about the fact that this you has meant so much to for so long, to sit on the stage, to come to the stage . Every night. Youirst of all, being with here on the stage, that is the thing. That is thank you for that, by the way. It is a good year. To be here in the booth where it originated, where david bowie did it in 1980. It is the movie that made me want to be an actor. The first time i sat at your table we talked about that and to be here in 2014 and the response that we get from the audience every single night where it feels like it actually, his story is being told. It was the character that motivated you to want to be an actor. It was the movie, david lynch s film. My father showed it to me. The way that john hurt played him at the way it was filmed in black and white and anthony hopkins, the way its not suck with me. Stuck with me. I always loved film. I saw all these movies, it was crystallized for me and i remember saying to my father, i want to be an actor. I got laughed at and so i was about 25 and finally he said maybe you should do that. Your father was a real influence. Huge. He it was a guy who grew up loving movies. I remember when hbo came through , with comcast. It was a huge thing that raging be on at 10 30 p. M. He showed me all these movies. An actorht have become and loved the life of an actor . It is funny you say that. They went to it and he had written all these skits making fun of his coworkers and boss. High, he was so excited and my mom talking about how he she had not seen that side of him. We always joked around, it was boisterous and leftfield, arguing, argumentfield family. Ly. Filled fami when on the Admiral Court we were gang courtmartialed on courtmartialed. Of theaw the emergence son who lived his dream. He had a good feeling. This was the first movie i had been in the center of an eye and i paved the road for doing other films. Out so hever came 1. Hangover come out. Ilms did directors want to work with you. You can make films yourself. Like american sniper. Yeah. A transformative moment. Yeah. Ando play Joseph Merrick this character, it is a dream. You insisted on the booth theater. You knew who you wanted to direct. You bet on those projects. That is right. And those were, elephant man was a big shot. That is a marketable entity that will be a problem. That is having to convince and share my passion with people. From the moment you came out of georgetown to the moment you are now, is there a time when i amaid i am not sure doing what it want to do. For years. And years. Out and went to grad school and was living in new york city, living in a bubble when youre in grad school. And then i was thrown into los angeles shooting a tv series which was incredible and i got to see the way that shows are edited. I was not fulfilled because i was not part of the everyday telling of the story. There was a time when i realized if in order to be fulfilled in this business, i got to be in the trenches with the director. I love the storytelling aspect. I will not be fulfilled if i am coming in and out. I knew early on that unfortunately for me there was one small window that i would be able to go through to be fulfilled and that is in the place i was now. If that did not happen i would have to take a look at what i am doing with my life. What makes you push past that so the people who are looking at you now may understand that everyone has felt that. Right. Opportunity, a daysshed moment was three of rain. Tv show that had gotten canceled. If i do not succeed a may have to hang it up and try Something Else with my life. I was 31 at the time. I felt very comfortable on stage. It was a very fulfilling moment. You have these little moments or someone like Robert De Niro looking at your audition tape and calling you and saying youre not going to get the role but keep doing what youre doing and that is when you realize the influence you can have on somebody. Markers. Ing at those clicks for him to give you the encouragement. I cannot not have for you but say on it. I am telling you you have talent. Clicks even Clint Eastwood said he sees himself a new. And essilorew proposers something that he sees himself pay cut is nice. Easy to work with him. I love him to death. He is a jazz musician. These movies. F it has that flowing energy to it. And i seamlessly went into clints wave. They thought stephen might direct this and after the death of chris kyle. The reason the movie got into gear was steven spielberg. Chris had gotten murdered. Chris. R in february killed 2013. Stephen killed me called me and march i believe. Everything changes. The budget, everything. Everybody starts getting into gear. That was the real reason which led us to Clint Eastwood. And so stephen decided not to do it . He was a total gentleman and called me and he said i want to help out anywhere i can. We already worked on the script quite a bit and the story. He and clint had not worked together. He produced flags of our fathers. Play misty for me. There were three guys. I want to be on the charlie rose show. I wanted to work with Clint Eastwood and robert deniro. That is the truth. So i put myself on tape for flags of our fathers and thoughtrino and i maybe it will not happen. All of a sudden stephen drops out and what about clint . Clint happened to be reading the book recreationally during that time so i talked to clint on a friday and he said, call monday. You went to see his parents. Midlothian and lets meet his children and see if wayne and debbies parents will drive out and jeff and amy his brother and his brothers wife and we spent to an act is there. A great story about that. I do not know if it will be a huge entourage. We arrived there. Just me and him. Go to the house and we are staying at a days inn. I kept waiting for a person to set things up. It was 11 30 p. M. And we get out of the minivan. The woman is there and it is me and Clint Eastwood checking into the days inn. Calls and i remember getting the phone call from the hotel. Are you up . Lets get some breakfast. You met chriss father. The movie. He had some concerns when you said we want to make a movie about your son. Think about it. Your toys killed and later these two men from hollywood are sitting in the seat that chris had dinner in every night telling you you will make a movie about your child. There was a special connection about chris and his father. A very close family. Say t he uphe talked about hooking me to the back of his truck and dragging the pretty out of me. I was thankful. I had not been called pretty since 2009. He has seen it. What did he say . Speak for himself. It meant everything to me. Taked debbie i will care of your boy. I am telling you i will do everything i can to do right by him and it was a wonderful call we had. Continuehis movie can the work and we will talk about doing as much as we can together. A tragedy he was killed. Tell me about him, how you saw him. , the wholee thing investigation has been so interesting and that is how i look at it, like an experiment. I looked at all the footage and he did tons of interviews. All this footage that is out there. Thea took all this video. You never knew if he was going to come back. You want to die. Is that what it is . No. Me, tell me why you do it. I want to understand. I do it for you. I do it to protect you. X i am here. Your children have no father. You do not know when to quit. You did your part. We sacrificed enough. So many all skill. You want someone else go . You find a way. You have to. Ok, i need you to be human again. Hear you here. She wired to make sure she documented their lives so i have a plethora of material i could swim in for months. I got to know the way he breathes, the way he moves his hands, everything. I just fell in love with the guy. I had mad respect for him. Utterly humble and a great sense of humor and for being such a huge presence and you can tell the way he changed the energy in the room. He had the ability that Clint Eastwood has which is to make everybody feel at ease even though you feel like you are in the presence of the legend. How did you prepare for this, beyond being able to study him, the physical things you had to do. 40 towns. Or it is muscle. It was not bodybuilding. It was weight training. There is this one say where he learned to has three weeks before he has to go home and they deemed him impotent because they are not letting him fight. There is that tracking shot. 400ve that because that was pounds. That waws real, that was me doig nature oft was by the all the way all the work that we did. I had this weight trainer and a dialect coach. You had an incredible schedule. Then you come back and do the physical stuff. In order to be physically ready. That is right. It helps you inhabit the character. It was invaluable. Better than if i had done and acting workshop. I worked out to his playlist. It was all his music all the time that i was working out and i had blown up these photographs and one was giving the camera the finger. He was smirking at me as i was trying to become him. When you did you feel that you had made the movie that you meant to make at the end of shooting . Yes, very proud of it. Yeah. I got to you something, i was worried that i was not going to be able to do it. I was really terrified. I was not able to believe i was chris. I dont sounds crazy but when we , i felt hisg presence. He was taking care of me and a lot of people would come onset who knew chris and think the balls of this guy who would think he could play this guy. They started to believe it. The two guys at the end of the movie, one of them knew chris he wasould feel that there. It was much more than simply being a great shooter. Being a great sniper. A couple of things. He happened to be at the right place at the right time. He was very savvy in terms of where to set up his gun. He always had a knack for that utd had a knack for sussing o. Hat was a possible target he sensed the target better than most. These marines keep brushing like they are rushing in, they will get their asses shot off. I will coach them up. We need you. The deadliest job is here. Do you have some kind of savior complex . I just want to get the bad guy. Arehey think they invincible. You keep banging on the long gun with these. The idea of a competitor on that his side, was life or was that a dramatic device . There was that guy that he hunted. What i loved about the framing was it was set up like a western and you had this mustafa character. I loved that almost unforgiven like structure. There is the scene where he is taking his toy hunting and he says it is a hell of a thing to stop a beating heart. Takes thatm munny sweet when Morgan Freeman has been killed and he says it is a hell of a thing killing a man, taking everything way that what he is going to have. When you work with the director are you observing a guy who has been able to combine the two as well as anybody, acting and directing . I took it all in. What did you learn from it . I will always shoot the rehearsal if i get a chance to direct and that is what he does. You may getcause something there. Where trying to pretend we are studying it for the first time. There is one time where it will be a the first time. Might as will get it on film. It is the energy. Like, lets do it. Does he try to motivate or do see basically say i hired you because you knew what to do. It is the latter, yeah. You better bring it. If you do bring it, and then you have some ideas, he will come right back it at you. He will collaborate even more, that is what i found. If i came with a Certain Energy or idea he would ignite, what collaboration should be, one person influences the other. If you come with the thing he will not hold your hand and take you to the role. Who do you respect . Binder, ryanass gosling, term hottie tom hardy. There are some fantastic male actors. Also films you want to be in. People making movies that you like and there are the movies i admire. Leonardo dicaprio is doing a movie, filmed very much like birdman is filmed. Fassbinder in a film about a lighthouse in australia. There are always great objects. After you did elephant man, did you know that you wanted to do that on stage question mark you did that is your thesis in grad school. 0, andraduated in 200, a revival. P did i thought maybe i will never get to do it again. In the back of my mind, even i would just love to do it because i felt something when i played him in 2000, i felt like there was a connection. Connection was correct. What is the connection beyond you saw it as a film that you love . Was it something about him . Yes, something about him. Something about his spirit. I know it sounds crazy but there is something have you ever said, had that . You feel like it is a brother. Something is there. And i felt that way about chris once i started learning about him. Initially i thought there is no way i could play chris. I thought chris pratt should do it. I said they would do it to warner bros. But in the back of my mind i thought i would never wind up playing. You thought chris pratt would be the guy. The film and there was something about his energy in these interviews that i started watching when i just theres something about him. I could tap into that. On stageou saw merrick and you go through this trencher mission, how did you come to the fact that you are not going to wear prosthetics in the play . He says that. In the preface to the play. It is part of you cannot physically do this , you have back problems, do not do it. It, in the beginning and it is just there and then you moved into it. Was that your idea to get at the character that way or have you seen that on stage somewhere else . It is set up that way. The only time i have seen, i saw the original production and he did not do as much about contortion. There is that scene when the doctors describing the affliction. Itterms of the specifics, over the years started to happen but the breath was the main thing, the way he breeds. That is the key. That is my way into him. Cane on. Uts the why is that . It is the way into everything if you think about it. How you brees determines everything the matter what your emotional state is. You tell athletes make sure you are breathing. To be connected. Out how largered it was for him to even breathe and figure out what that would be like, that was my key into him. Even hearing it, when i hear him brees as i do downstage, it helps, it is a most like juggling. I keep hearing and the breath is so different. Who is john merrick . His real name was Joseph Merrick. He died in 1890 and grew up in lesser, lesser england and moved to ireland. They still are not clear what it , they bleached his skeleton so they cannot get a good dna sample. He had this effect on london at the time because he started to exhibit himself as a freak show , it wasnd then this dr. His idea, different from the play. He grew up, his mother died when he was 10 and his mother remarried and her children tortured him. He left and lived with his uncle. He rolled cigars until his hands got so deformed to could not do it. He was educated. To be educated as a child you had to be religiously affiliated and his mother was a baptist. He knew the bible by heart and he knew the book of prayers. Enjoyed jane austen. You described him as innocent and beautiful and effortlessly benevolent. That is the menu saw. That is right. Did he see himself that way . That is a good question. I do not know. You mustve appreciated his intelligence. For sure. He did grapple with religion. Inwhat happened to him london to have the friends that he had, to have a doctor who is brilliantly casted here. And anthony heald. Us every night that we are doing it to honor Joseph Merrick. There is a very large photograph of him in his dressing room. We both, all of us, we do it to honor him. It is a stunning moment for bradley right now. I am thankful to be part of it. And he isar friend someone, he is a consummate actor and professional. Was that you the director . We went through everybody. This is collaboration. All the ancillary characters were notrns that equity actors that are now on broadway. We took everybody. You went in the summer to williamstown. Knowing that you would be able to bring this to broadway. Knowing that it may be the last thing i ever do. That is where you go to williamstown. But was that a challenge for you, were you concerned . They give you a chance to do it. Remember doing emails, i will do this number of shows on this. That is right. Did you learn a lot so that when you come here now on this which the booth theater has been produced some any times before, did you come into broadway saying i am so glad i did that because i have got this character inside of me. That is right. 100 . Howonly the character but he wanted to do it. It is a stripped down story. No bells and whistles. Does merrick maintain this kind of innocence and beauty that he has. Inside . How does he do that . Huge his curiosity and his wanting to be part of society and to be part of humanity. That is the thing. As described, he desperately wants to belong. That is one thing, he wants to belong but he has this understanding above everybody elsewhere he does see the beauty in everything. That is the thing. He does love the moments of life. A lot of people have a hard time doing it. That is why the plate is so successful or has been. It is infectious to watch a guy so afflicted, love the moments of life. He is enjoying it. Inre is a certain pleasure having the life you have. Was never a victim. It could have been so easily. Even when he was in a sideshow. Now andsolicited he solicited [indiscernible] how do you prepare . I have a picture of joseph in my room, outside the shared dressing room of merrick. Andlist taking 74 he him him in 1890. Out of hisch cash hat with a photograph. I sit with him in the room for 10 minutes. He never lets you down. A little bit. I may give him a little kiss. I stand on the stage every night and with the audience, we do take that journey to become him together. I do not have to do anything off stage in terms of becoming him because i do it on stage. There is a physical rigor about this area yeah. You got to be ready. I got to be loose and i have an inversion table and a guy and basicallyy puts my body back together. What was the relationship of