As you can imagine, Bradley Cooper is doing a theater production on ‘The Elephant Man’, and as you can see from the photo above, the transformation is really kind of … well, it’s creepy, to say the least. From the Times-Union:
His John Merrick – a man with hideous deformities who goes from being a sideshow freak to the toast of the town – succeeds with the right amount of intensity to maintain his contorted posture and the right amount of charm to reveal Merrick’s humor and humanity.
Cooper’s transformation into Merrick is one of the strongest moments of theatricality in the production. Cooper stands onstage dressed only in shorts while a screen shows photographs of the actual John Merrick, and Merrick’s caretaker Dr. Treves (ably played by Alessandro Nivola) describes the images. As Treves details Merrick’s deformities, Cooper undergoes a stunning transformation by twisting his fingers together, lifting his arm, turning in a leg, thrusting out a hip and sliding his lips to one side of his face.
So really, in short, the only thing you need to know is that no. Bradley Cooper looks nothing like the Elephant Man, John (official name Joseph) Merrick. Because this is what John Merrick looked like, if you didn’t know:
No. Bradley Cooper looks nothing like that, thankfully for him. But one thing is for certain—he looks super, super creepy just the way he is, you know? Yikes.
Does anyone else feel like this is your typical Hollywood handsome actor trying to prove his talent by playing ugly? Worked for Charlize Theron, definitely.
I think he is trying to prove his talent by playing ugly too. You have to have more than unnaturally blue eyes to be talented. You need to do the hard yards like all the others did. Getting your face absolutely everywhere isn’t going to be the answer. He’s over eager to be a star. It really is overkill. He has to realize the public, are not stupid and do react to overacting, and over exposure.