Bradley Cooper talks ‘The Hangover Part II’

Bradley Cooper is back on the big screen May 26th in The Hangover Part II.

He says this time around the movie is a bit darker. Set in Bangkok, the boys find themselves in trouble yet again! We talked to Cooper about shooting in Thailand and if he was to have a hangover what city he’d want it to be in. His response? Toronto.

Sorry to disappoint ladies, but no relationship chit chat…asking about single-dom is a major no-no so I kept it clean!

Q: Do you have to audition for roles because of how successful the first movie was? I hear you guys didn’t make a lot of money the first time around.
A: That was a lot of money for us, are you kidding me? We were just happy to have a job! Everybody that was a part of that movie, because it was so financially lucrative, benefited from it, but I still put myself on tape for movies and try to get roles…it’s the same. Doors have been opened for sure, but it’s not like I sit back with a cigar on Monday morning and go through the scripts that have been offered. No, that’s not the case.

Q: Was it important to keep the characters the same for familiarity?
A: I think it was really important that we adhere to the structure of the first one. We made that decision early on. I remember we did this photo shoot for Vanity Fair and that was when we first talked about a sequel in a realistic way. We were all in the room together afterwards saying, ‘Here’s the choice. Do we stray from the structure or do we run straight for it?’

And we all agreed no question about it. We haven’t earned the ability to take these three guys out and put them in a new structure. There needs to be a ticking clock, there needs to be a missed night, there needs to be someone who’s gone, there needs to be a woman who’s waiting to get married and a guy who needs to get married. So we did, and you know it right away.

Todd [Phillips, the director] tells you in the first five minutes of the movie when you get that phone call. It’s like, “Hey guys, you’re going to get the same movie, but it’s going to be a lot darker, the stakes are going to be raised, and strap yourself in.”

Q: Did you all bond more as actors? Have things between the characters changed?
A: We all went through so much on the first movie. We were all a part of this thing that had an impact on culture in a way. We really went through that together. That was a bonding process. Two years have gone by, Todd made another movie with Zack [Galifianakis] called Due Date, I made the A-Team and Limitless and Ed [Helms] made Cedar Rapids and done The Office.

We’ve all grown so to then revisit those characters was a really interesting experiment because, well first of all, I personally think the second movie is much better than the first one, and I think the characters are more grounded. You get to know them. The dynamic is very interesting. You see Phil [his character] vulnerable, sort of resorting to adolescent behaviours like, “You’re no longer my friend.”

Q: What was it like shooting in Bangkok?
A: I love it. I absolutely love it. I didn’t get sick there the way a lot of people did. It’s the land of a thousand smiles and that sort of hides the fact of how lured and morose it can be. You think, “Oh this is all good fun,” but some pretty dark s*#t goes on in Bangkok.

That said, I absolutely loved it, how foreign it felt. I love how I felt like I was in Blade Runner a lot of the time. The food is incredible, the Chao Phraya river is beautiful. It’s a really special place. I’d never been to a Buddhist culture, I mean it’s have Muslim, but that’s a very interesting aspect. I love the pageantry that goes along with the culture, I love ‘sawasdee krub’ [the masculine form of hello in Thai] and all that stuff…it’s really interesting.

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