Bradley Cooper: I want to bring Elephant Man back to London

The American Hustle actor fulfilled a dream to play deformed John Merrick on Broadway - but now he wants to bring it to the West End
Star studded: Bradley Cooper with co-stars Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola (Picture: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
Tom Teodorczuk8 December 2014
The Weekender

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Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper opened on Broadway to rave reviews as The Elephant Man and revealed he’d like to take the play back to London.

Cooper, the star of The Hangover and American Hustle, fulfilled a longstanding dream to play grotesquely deformed John Merrick in the revival at the Booth Theatre in Manhattan’s Times Square.

Bradley Cooper in The Elephant Man

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Bernard Pomerance’s work, set in Victorian London, premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in 1977 before playing at the National Theatre and transferring to Broadway, where it starred David Bowie and later Star Wars actor Mark Hamill. Jon Hamm, Emily Blunt and Emma Stone were in the first-night audience to see Cooper take on the role. The actor, 39, told the Standard: “The West End is amazing and incredible. It would be an honour and exciting to do The Elephant Man in the West End.”

But he added: “Let’s get through this run first. We’ve got 85 more shows to do!”

Cooper has said he first wanted to become an actor after seeing the 1980 film version of The Elephant Man. He visited Whitechapel to view the site of the hospital where Merrick, who died in 1890, was treated and to see his cloak and birth certificate.

“I’ve had the luxury of preparing for this role my whole life,” Cooper said. “I’ve got to know him from so much research and have gone to London twice.”

Critics have raved about the production, which also stars Patricia Clarkson. The New York Post praised Cooper’s “admirable sincerity” while The Hollywood Reporter called the play “a haunting emotional experience”.

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