I admire Bradley Cooper’s pluckiness in this year’s Oscar fight. He hasn’t given up on the Best Actor award although a win would be a major upset. If it’s any consolation, BCoop won a Reuters poll where a group of random theatergoers said he should win. This is a crazy result, but more people have watched American Sniper than the other Oscar movies. Bradley received the ‘Murica vote. The poll also said Julianne Moore wouldn’t win Best Actress, which …. sure.

This year’s Oscar race also collides with the trial of Chris Kyle’s killer. So the film is on people’s minds. Bradley is also everywhere without being anywhere. He’s holed up on Broadway (where he’s working on a potential Tony), but he’s handing out interviews like candy. Bradley spoke with 60 Minutes, and he brought his mom along. She will be his Oscar date. He confessed to the LA Times how much he loves Chris Kyle, and nothing else matters but honoring Kyle’s legacy.

Coop gave a huge interview to Deadline, which reveals how involved he was in shapping the film’s narrative. The most interesting part is where Bradley namedrops actors who say he should win:

On finding the moment when Chris Kyle cracks: “That scene in the bar, that second scene, the reason why that became the crack is because I loved Chris so much. I still remember, it was the second take. And I remember on the phone I felt like I was going to really lose it. I’m on the phone, and because of the way it was written I could hear the kids in the background. When we shot her side there were no kids, but the way I was playing it, I could hear the kids. And then the camera’s coming and I had the hat on and I kind of turned away, because I didn’t want the camera … [I wanted] to protect Chris.”

This movie isn’t about war at all: “To me, it was always just a soldier’s story. And on purpose, there’s no talk about the war, why we’re in it, nothing. It is not what that movie’s about.”

All the actors want him to win: “Just insane. The calls I got from people. I don’t even know Tom Hardy, and he sent me the most incredible email. Anne Hathaway said something publicly and I called her and I just said, hey, we don’t know each other, but it got back to me what you said, and it means everything. Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Reynolds, guys I don’t really know. Sean Penn, I couldn’t believe it. Now, Ben’s my friend and I would do anything for him, but for him to host that thing in a year where he could be up for Best Actor, too? They don’t make many like that dude.

[From Deadline]

The last time I talked about BCoop, he was playing dumb and pretending not to know the movie would be a hit. His tune has changed. Now Bradley confirms the stories we heard about Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, and Josh Brolin pushing hard for a BCoop coup d’etat. Affleck even hosted special Sniper screenings, which is a strong show of support. Was it right for Bradley to mention his supporters by name before the Oscars? It feels like a Gwyneth Paltrow move.

Movie stills courtesy of Warner Bros; photos courtesy of WENN