Bradley Cooper Starring In 'The Elephant Man' On Broadway This Fall

Bradley Cooper is Broadway-bound!

The actor, who just received his second Oscar nomination last Thursday for his performance in David O. Russell's American Hustle, will be returning to Broadway for the first time since his role in 2006's Three Days of Rain, alongside Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd.

Cooper has signed on to headline a revival of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man. The actor will play John Merrick, the deformed, sympathetic man at the center of the play, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated in 1980 by director David Lynch. In the film, Cooper's role was played by John Hurt.

Of course, there are significant differences between play and film: the play requires the actor to convey deformity through his physical performance, without the aid of makeup or prosthetic assistance. Thankfully, Cooper isn't a stranger to the role, as he portrayed Merrick in a 2012 performance of The Elephant Man at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. You can check out a photo of Cooper from the 2012 performance below (alongside future American Hustle co-star Alessandro Nivola):

Credit: Charles Erickson

It's unknown at the moment whether Nivola or Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson, Cooper's co-stars in the Williamstown Theatre Festival performance, will join him in the Broadway run. But it's encouraging to see Cooper challenge himself with these sorts of roles, since I genuinely believe there's a lot to Cooper's talent that people still haven't seen just yet.

Via: Entertainment Weekly