If you ask Bradley Cooper, Jay-Z is a fan of Judge Judy.
During a recent sit-down with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Cooper, 49, detailed the process of making his directorial debut, 2018’s A Star Is Born. He recalled having a meeting with producer Greg Silverman, who was familiar with Cooper thanks to his American Sniper success and told the actor at the time, “If you can make it for under $25 million and you can get Beyoncé, I’ll do it.”
Cooper took the challenge to heart, paying a visit to Beyoncé, 42, and Jay-Z, 54, at their home.
“I went to Beyoncé’s house and Jay-Z was watching Judge Judy,” he said as the crowd laughed. “I’m not kidding. I was freaking [out] … I remember I had this weird cough when I was pitching it to her.”
He continued, “It was crazy. She was incredible and so was he. And we developed it for, like, a year together. She’s one of the greatest people of all time. And then that fell through.”
After considering Adele for the role of Ally, Cooper eventually landed on Lady Gaga. She starred opposite him in the movie, which ultimately received a total of eight Oscar nominations in 2019. (Cooper and Gaga’s duet “Shallow” won Best Original Song.)
Cooper is no stranger to sharing behind-the-scenes stories from his Hollywood career. Earlier this month, he revealed he was “terrified” before making his TV debut on Sex and the City, a gig he landed after telling a little white lie in the audition process.
“I still remember it: I was Jake the downtown smoker,” he said during a Q&A at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Cooper’s Jake was a brief love interest of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in the show’s sophomore season. The two met at Beauty Bar, a real-life club in New York City, after an unflattering picture of Carrie was published on the cover of New York Magazine.
“I auditioned for it, and at that time, I didn’t really realize that you could ever get the job,” Cooper recalled. “Honestly, I thought that I had a job as a doorman at Morgans Hotel and then I was lucky enough to audition.”
Before securing the role, Cooper fibbed about being able to drive stick shift, and he was “terrified” at the thought of having to go through with it on camera.
“[I thought], ‘What do you mean I’m actually going to have to do it?’” he continued. “I couldn’t drive a stick shift, so they sent me to Models Driving School and I was just terrified. And I still messed it up, so they had somebody else drive the car and I just had to … pretend that we stopped.”
