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Bradley Cooper once had the opportunity to play the superhero Green Lantern instead of Ryan Reynolds. But perhaps he drew too much inspiration from Batman Begins star Christian Bale, which ultimately lost him the part.
Bradley Cooper was reluctant to do another superhero movie after not getting ‘Green Lantern’
Cooper losing out on the superhero film Green Lantern may have been a blessing in disguise for the actor. The 2011 film was heavily panned by critics and performed far below expectations financially, which ruined the possibility for any potential sequels. Even the film’s star Reynolds has occasionally poked fun at the film and its disastrous effects on his career.
Cooper’s career, however, continued to thrive after not getting the part. He even found himself a part of another superhero franchise eventually after being recruited for The Guardians of the Galaxy. There he provides the voice for the superhero Rocket Raccoon in the heroic group. Still, Green Lantern soured Cooper on trying out for any other superhero franchises.
“I auditioned to play the Green Lantern and I didn’t get it, and I haven’t had the balls to put the cape on again,” he once told Belfast Telegraph.
Cooper asserted he didn’t get the Green Lantern part because of his own acting mistakes. As inspiration, he looked towards Christian Bale for help. Bale was already firmly established in DC’s cinematic world as Batman, and Cooper couldn’t help lift inspiration from the actor’s superhero performance. But it backfired horribly.
“I couldn’t not do Christian Bale’s Batman when I was doing the audition,” he once said on The Tonight Show with Conan O’ Brien (via MTV News). “I don’t know what it was! I put a mask on and the director was like, ‘Okay Bradley, be regular and talk.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, got it…listen, Sally, we’re going to have to take your family away if you don’t listen to me!’ By the way, that’s the worst Batman [impression] ever. I apologize.”
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But after looking back at his audition, even Cooper couldn’t disagree with the casting directors’ decision not to choose him.
“At one point, I actually walked back and saw it, because they have it on the monitor while you’re auditioning,” he remembered. “I saw a little clip as they were rewinding it, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, that can’t be.’ It looked like a Saturday Night Live sketch! I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not getting this! Now I can really do my Batman! Who gives a s***?’”
Ryan Reynolds was ‘unhirable’ after ‘Green Lantern’
Cooper held no ill will towards Reynolds after he secured the Green Lantern role. Not only did he understand the decision, he believed Reynolds was ideal for the part. So much so that if he was a filmmaker, as he is now, he would’ve chosen the same actor.
“Ryan Reynolds got it—who, by the way, if I was directing the movie, I would cast him. He’s perfect. He actually looks like a superhero,” Cooper said.
But Reynolds’ experience after the Green Lantern debacle proved how fortunate Cooper was to avoid the role. After the 2011 feature, it took a while before Reynolds’ film career recovered.
“I represented the death of the superhero for a while,” Reynolds once said on Variety’s Actors on Actors. “After Green Lantern, I was pretty much unhireable.”
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