Bradley Cooper is back in the spotlight — though his latest movie mainly sees him shine behind the lens.
The Oscar-nominated actor, 50, debuted his third directorial effort Is This Thing On? on Friday, Oct. 10 to close the prestigious New York Film Festival. Cooper co-stars in the comedy film, but its leading man is his pal Will Arnett.
As the unfinished print screened to the Big Apple crowd, Cooper commended his star, 55, who plays a man on the brink of a divorce after a long marriage, who then finds catharsis in performing stand-up comedy, as Deadline noted.
“I met him in New York City, and I thought, ‘That guy’s tall, I don’t want to fight that guy.’ And then we lived together in Venice, CA, and I just thought the was the coolest guy, and he was always the funniest guy in the room, that how I looked at him,” said Cooper about Arnett, via Deadline.
Cooper continued, “Sometimes, you meet these people and they go out of your life, but we stayed in each others lives for decades. And now he’s somebody who I can consider one of my closest friends in my life, that I will take on my death bed, and know for a fact that I’ll think back and this his friendship meant the world to me.”
Given the setting and Cooper’s love for New York, he also gave a special shoutout to the city on Friday as Is This Thing On? premiered, Deadline noted.
“Growing up in Philly, I would think of New York and I would drive and we would get lost in the West Village,” he said. “We’d tried to get home, and my Dad would be cursing. And I always thought, to be here in grad school in the late ’90s to go to the New School… and New York was so specific. It had that magic and really still has that magic — for me, at least, and we hope for most of you. That’s what we wanted to capture.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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