Bradley Cooper says ‘Wedding Crashers’ co-star Vince Vaughn was a major inspiration for him

Bradley Cooper is an acclaimed director and has 12 Oscar nominations, so one might think he’d have some highfalutin answer for his biggest inspirational moment as an actor. 

However, he revealed it was watching Vince Vaughn in the 2005 R-rated hit comedy Wedding Crashers.

During a recent conversation with fellow SAG Award nominees as a part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations program, the Maestro filmmaker said that Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin gave him a “huge break” when he cast him against the “nice-guy” roles he was getting. In the film, he played Rachel McAdams‘ jerky preppy ex Sack Lodge.

“Up until that point, I was always just trying to get it right on camera. Be present and get it right,” Cooper admitted. 

He added, “I’m watching Vince Vaughn destroy a scene, just crush it, and then … He’s just like, ‘I want to do another one.'”

Cooper said he was “so in awe of this human” and his “willingness to fail.”

“It was like a diamond through the middle of my head going, ‘That’s it! That freedom to just be absolutely willing to fail,'” he said. “It changed me forever. That was the moment.”