Guillermo del Toro might not be the most prolific director of our time, nor is he consistent with his films in terms of objective quality, but you can always be sure that his stories will always center around the most bizarre and absurd circumstances imaginable, giving way to a sense of originality that few other filmmakers bother with today. For the creative’s latest Nightmare Alley, which came out to somewhat mixed reviews a while ago, Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett were the stars who did most of the heavy lifting with their performances.
And while both of these are highly-acclaimed thespians in their own right, it seems that getting the opportunity to work with the former, in particular, has been a life-changing experience for del Toro. In a recent interview with TheWrap magazine, the director discussed working with the American Sniper star, revealing that he almost saw Cooper as his peer rather than an actor playing a part in his film.
“Not to be glib, but it’s all on Bradley,” He explains. “I mean the partnership I had with this guy is the most absolutely immersive partnership I’ve ever had with an actor. Every day, we would discover Stan (Bradley’s character) and he would become Stan and embody nothing but the truth. I tell you, that partnership changed my life. And it changed the way I shot the movie. I started to let the camera linger longer without moving or cutting.”
Bradley may have received a lot of veneration for his career in Hollywood, but I don’t suppose it gets any better than a creative like Guillermo del Toro admiring you to such an extensive degree. Though the director’s words make sense from a certain point of view.
Bradley is not just an actor who displays great range, but also a director who has shown a good sense of what works and what doesn’t in the industry, and his critically-acclaimed and Academy Award-winning 2018 film A Star Is Born serves as a perfect case in point here. Guillermo and Lady Gaga will have to share joint custody of Cooper.
