Bradley Cooper Reveals The One Person Who Kept Him From Leaving Acting For Good

Bradley Cooper is a Hollywood actor who has enjoyed great success and received plenty of accolades throughout his career, including over 200 nominations for various awards throughout the years. He's also someone who takes his craft very seriously, telling The New York Times in an interview back in 2018 that he's tried to walk in the shoes of every role he's played thus far. "Once you get that fire inside you to tell the story, everything's personal. So, you have to bring up everything," Cooper said. "Whenever you create a character, at least for me, you have to find anything you can to tell the truth, right? So, yeah, you're always working off of yourself."

And while there's no doubt that Cooper is someone who probably still has his best work ahead of him, he revealed that there was one person in his life who kept him from walking away from Hollywood for good. And it's a person that Cooper's fans would have least expected, too.

In an interview with Variety, Bradley Cooper admitted that he was ready to walk away from acting for good if it weren't for the intervention of acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson. Despite being praised for his work in films such as "A Star Is Born," "American Sniper," "Silver Linings Playbook," and so many more, Cooper told fellow actor Mahershala Ali that he would have done anything to work with Anderson and felt thankful when the director offered him a part in his new film, "Licorice Pizza."

"The reason that I didn't give up acting is Paul Thomas Anderson. When he called me to maybe be in his movie, Mahershala, I mean really, I think I'd open up a door in his movie. I'd do anything," Cooper said, while also adding, "I spent three and a half weeks with Paul. I watched all the camera tests. He was teaching me all about lenses, things I never knew. He's incredible." As these quotes prove, even the most talented and famous of stars can learn new things about the industry.

Seeing how Cooper is already getting positive reviews for his role in the film, per the Chicago Sun-Times, his fans really owe Anderson a whole lot of gratitude for keeping the actor exactly where he belongs, and that's in front of a camera.