Remember that time Bradley Cooper starred in the comedy Wedding Crashers? This was long before he became the big A-list star and director that he is now. I loved that movie, and while Copper’s role in it didn’t leave much of an impression on audiences, the film had a huge impact on him and his approach to acting.
During a recent interview with Variety, Cooper shared an experience he had on set watching Vince Vaughn do his thing, and that inspired him. It was all about being willing to fail. It changed his whole perspective on acting. He explained…
“Up until that point, I was always just trying to get it right on camera. Be present and get it right. I’m watching Vince Vaughn destroy a scene, just crush it, and then he wants another take. It was the scene where the grandmother is shooting him, takes the gun out and he’s running out. He’s just like, ‘I want to do another one.’ In front of everyone…this huge crew and lights and it’s so nerve-wracking…and it was his willingness to fail.”
What impressed Cooper was how Vaughn was able to make a scene work and then he was willing to keep going anyway, trying all kinds of other things. While not everything worked, Vaughn just kept going! Cooper continued:
“Watching Vince Vaughn…this huge tough guy, funniest guy, quickest guy…I was just in awe of this human, this man just failing, just willing to try anything. At some point, he was just scatting and caught onto this thing and was doing this song. I loved seeing it, but clearly it wasn’t working. But it didn’t even matter. It was all of us watching this artist just explore with complete abandon. It was like a diamond through the middle of my head going, ‘That’s it! That freedom to just be absolutely willing to fail.’ It changed me forever. That was the moment.”
I love that. I’ve always believed that it’s ok to fail because you learn and grow from those experiences. Maybe I’m just telling myself that to make myself feel better, though, because I’ve failed so much at so many things in life!
