Bradley Cooper Made Robert De Niro Join 'Joker'

Todd Phillips’s “Joker” was one of the gigantic hits of 2019. Apart from the theme, the actors, Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, turned the movie into something special with their impeccable acting skills. But having De Niro in the film was not easy for Phillips. So he called up one of his closest friends to make the “Raging Bull” star part of the project.

Speaking in an interview with People, De Niro, who portrayed the role of talk-show host Murray Franklin in the movie, revealed that it was Bradley Cooper who convinced him to be part of the movie or else he would have passed on the role.

Cooper serves as one of the executive producers for the movie and has been a frequent collaborator with Phillips. He was an integral part of the “Hangover” franchise and starred in all the three movies.

The “Irishman” star noted that he liked Phillips when he met him and thought that it would be an “interesting” project for him but it was Cooper that made him say yes to the film based on the iconic DC Comics character.

“ I met Todd Phillips [the director] and I liked him. I thought ‘this will be an interesting project.’ Bradley was one of the producers and he told me to do it, ” De Niro said.

The “American Sniper” star and De Niro have worked together in films like “American Hustle,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Joy,” and “Limitless.” De Niro believes that Cooper is a wonderful actor and the way he approaches a film is something that the “Goodfellas” star really likes.

“He is really terrific. What he did with ‘A Star Is Born,’ the way he worked on it quietly by himself, put it together, found the right actors, the right people. When you know what you want to do, that’s a great thing, and you know it’ll be special,” De Niro said.

“Joker” has been making waves across all the major award shows. Phoenix won the Best Actor trophy at the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards for his portrayal of the clown prince of Gotham. Meanwhile, the film's composer Hildur Guðnadóttir won the Original Score award at both events.

The film created history by becoming the first-ever comic-book based movie to lead the nominations at the Oscars. The movie is also nominated for Best Picture, making it the only second superhero movie to get an opportunity to compete for the prestigious award.

Apart from Best Picture, the other 10 noms it garnered include Best Director for Phillips, Best Actor for Phoenix, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Costume Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, and Makeup and Hairstyling.