How Clint Eastwood inspired Bradley Cooper to direct A Star Is Born

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Bradley Cooper’s American Sniper director Clint Eastwood was one of the inspirations behind Cooper’s choice to direct A Star Is Born.

Eastwood was actually considering directing Born at one point and met with Cooper to star in the film. “I was too young. I always thought I didn’t have enough experience to play this guy,” admits Cooper. “But that was when I first became aware of the project and first met Clint actually. He was thinking about doing it and we were talking about it. I was 38 at the time — I’m 43 now, and I just knew … I just thought, ‘I don’t know if I could buy me like that.’ And then life happens and we wound up doing American Sniper together which aged me. And then a year of doing The Elephant Man [on Broadway] aged me. And I thought, ‘You know what? I think I’m ready.'”

Adds Cooper, “I love Clint Eastwood and I look up to him so much. And I always had in my mind, ‘Well, he was 41 when he made Play Misty For Me.’ So I always thought when I get around that age then I gotta just [direct].”

A Star Is Born, starring Cooper and Lady Gaga, opens in theaters Oct. 5.