News Digest

'It's why I became an actor': Bradley Cooper to play Elephant Man on Broadway

Bradley Cooper is heading to Broadway to play the Elephant Man, a man he says he has thought about every day since he was 12. The play by Bernard Pomerance, which premiered at the Booth Theatre in 1979, shows some two dozen snapshots in the life of Joseph Merrick, tracing his journey from an abused circus freak to a curiosity of London’s high society. Cooper became fascinated by Merrick’s life after seeing the 1980 film version by David Lynch, which he cites as the catalyst for wanting to pursue a career in acting.

I got to research the real guy and I just fell in love with who he was as a human being, as a man. It’s been a wonderful, eye-opening experience into that world of the late 1800s in London and Leicester, and what he went through.

Bradley Cooper

But he was not acquainted with the stage production until much later, when he was studying at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. He said Merrick had loomed large for him growing up, adding that he “probably thought about him maybe every day” since age 12. The production in New York is a revival after Cooper portrayed the character for a short run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012. “The Hangover” star’s busy schedule has kept him away from the boards until now and he will star in a 14-week run starting with previews on Nov. 7.

There’s this love story and you also get a sense of Merrick being a real survivor and having a real wisdom about him. It’s sort of heart-breaking in the face of reality and the limits that faced him.

Bradley Cooper