Bradley Cooper Reveals Jay-Z Was Watching 'Judge Judy' While He Pitched Beyoncé 'A Star Is Born': 'I Was Freaking Out'
Bradley Cooper got a very candid look into Beyoncé and Jay-Z's home life.
During an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the actor, 49, recalled going to the Hollywood power couple's home to pitch Beyoncé, 42, the idea for the 2018 film A Star Is Born, a role which ultimately went to Lady Gaga.
However, it was what the rapper, 54, was doing during the meeting that was even more intriguing to Cooper.
"I went to Beyoncé's house, and Jay-Z was watching Judge Judy, I still remember. I'm not kidding. And I was freaking [out]. I remember I had this weird cough when I was pitching it to her," Cooper recalled.
"It was crazy. She was incredible and so was he, and we developed it for like a year together. I mean, she's one of the greatest people of all time. Then that fell through," he added.
It was only when the American Sniper actor saw the "Bad Romance" vocalist, 37, sing at a charity event that he knew he'd found the right person for the project, which went on to be nominated for numerous Academy Awards. It took home one for the song "Shallow."
"It just blew the doors off of the whole place, and it was in that moment where it was like, 'That's it. What was I even thinking?' And then I asked to meet her," Cooper explained.
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The Silver Linings Playbook star previously opened up about how he first came across Gaga's talent. "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," the dad-of-one noted in a 2018 interview about seeing the pop star at the event.
"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 recalled.
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The two superstars grew to be extremely close while making the movie, even sparking dating rumors in the process — though a romance was never confirmed.
"She knows everything about me — everything. There is not one thing she doesn’t know, and I believe the same for me," Cooper said in a separate interview.
W and Entertainment Weekly conducted the 2018 interviews with Cooper.