Bradley Cooper Had To Be Naked For 6 Hours On Nightmare Alley Set

Bradley Cooper reveals that, while shooting one scene in Nightmare Alley, he had to be naked for six hours on set. Released in late December, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley proved to be generally popular with critics but has been a massive box office disappointment, having earned just under $10 million so far on a $60 million budget. The neo-noir film takes place in the 1940s and has been praised for its production design and atmosphere, as well as the lead performances from Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Toni Collette.

Nightmare Alley follows manipulative carny Stanton Carlisle (Cooper) and his attempts to con the wealthy elite with the help of Dr. Lileth Ritter (Blanchett), a dangerous psychiatrist. While Nightmare Alley has proved a box office bomb, the film has yet to open in the UK, which will give it at least a small financial boost. For Cooper, his work in Nightmare Alley comes at the same time as his critically acclaimed role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza as Jon Peters, appearing opposite Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim.

In a new interview on The Business with Kim Masters (via Digital Spy), Cooper recalls filming a scene in which Stanton has a sexual encounter with Collette’s character, Zeena Krumbein. The scene, which features Cooper naked in a bathtub, was a relatively quick one in the final cut of the film. However, the actor explains that filming it involved having to be naked for around six hours in front of the cast and crew. Check out Cooper’s full comment below:

“I remember reading the script and thinking, he’s a pickled punk in that bathtub and it’s to story. You have to do it. I can still remember that day just to be naked in front of the crew for six hours, and it was Toni Collette’s first day. It was just like, ‘Whoa.’ It was pretty heavy.”

While the experience of being naked for hours on end in front of the crew may not have been the most comfortable experience, Cooper doesn’t regret the decision “because there was nothing gratuitous about it.” The fact that it was also Collette’s first day on the Nightmare Alley set also seems to have contributed to the weight of the experience, which is understandable from Cooper’s perspective. As the star explains, though, the scene contributed to the story and shed more light on the character of Stanton Carlisle, so it was vital to Nightmare Alley.

Although filming nude scenes would undoubtedly be an unnerving experience, most film sets these days go to great lengths to ensure actors feel as comfortable as possible. The hiring of intimacy coordinators, as well as and ensuring that a set is “closed” and controlled, can ensure that scenes featuring nude actors are handled with care and sensitivity. Ultimately, Cooper’s comments suggest that del Toro created an open and engaging atmosphere on the Nightmare Alleyset, within which he felt comfortable to explore the depths of his complex character — even if it meant having to be more exposed that he might have liked.

Source: The Business with Kim Masters (via Digital Spy)

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