Believe it or not, Bradley Cooper has already earned 8 Oscar nominations over the course of his career. That would make the actor-filmmaker one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, right? Well, not so much. As the actor explained in a recent The Business podcast interview, Cooper isn’t sure the types of films he wants to make will ever get him a big payday anymore.
Obviously, it would be silly to think Bradley Cooper isn’t getting money and is struggling to put food on his table. That’s not the case at all. But as he explained in the interview, there isn’t really money being made with the types of films he wants to make, such as with his upcoming directorial gig, “Maestro,” and just those sorts of prestige drama films in general.
“On a personal level, in terms of how I can make a living has completely changed,” Cooper said, “Because I’ve only bet on myself [with] movies, and always bet on that the movie would do well and in doing well, I would get paid and upfront I would not get paid and because of that, I would hedge my bet and if it were successful I would be paid a lot more.”
“Those days are completely gone,” he added. “So, there is trepidation I have with that, no question. And I have thought: I really have to actively start thinking about other ways of making revenue that have maybe nothing to do with movie-making.”
He uses his upcoming film, “Maestro,” as an example. Even though he scored a deal with Netflix to get the film financed and distributed, he admits that the money paid is going to the production budget and isn’t going to his wallet. In fact, he’s likely not going to make a penny off the film.
“Like, ‘Maestro,’ I’m just so lucky that Netflix is going to pay for the movie, and that’s just so the movie will get made, but there’s no back end, there’s no… that [one] is for the love of the game,” he admitted.
Again, it’s not as if Bradley Cooper will be seen at your local food bank, but this information does paint a pretty bleak picture for filmmaking in the future. Cooper is fortunate enough to have other big projects that earn him paychecks so that he can take a loss on something like “Maestro.” But there are folks out there that can’t afford to do that and wouldn’t be in a position to make a film for free. And in those cases, in the modern film industry, that would likely result in a film not getting made.
You can hear the full interview below: