Revisiting Bradley Cooper’s 9 Oscar races in honor of ‘Maestro’

Christopher Tsang
·5 min read
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Bradley Cooper has continued to rack up Oscar nomination after Oscar nomination in recent years. Over the past decade, the actor-turned-filmmaker has scored nine Academy Award mentions in multiple categories for six different movies: four in Best Picture, three in Best Actor, one in Best Supporting Actor and one in Best Adapted Screenplay. In anticipation of “Maestro,” where he stars as famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein alongside Carey Mulligan, set for November 22 before premiering on Netflix December 20, let’s take a look back at Cooper’s previous nine Oscar races.

Cooper’s road to the Oscars began with his collaboration with David O. Russell for “Silver Linings Playbook,” portraying the bipolar Pat Solitano Jr., recently treated at a mental facility and determined to win back his ex-wife. Cooper was one of eight Oscar notices for the 2012 romantic comedy for Best Actor, and received Golden Globe, Critics Choice, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA Award bids leading up to it.

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He followed that the year after with a supporting role in another Russell comedy with the crime movie “American Hustle” as FBI agent Richie DiMaso, who uses two con artists for a sting operation, giving him his first and only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Along with being part of the movie’s 10 bids, he received the same precursor noms for the role, except the individual SAG mention, though he did share the ensemble award with the rest of the cast that included Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and his “Silver Linings Playbook” leading lady Jennifer Lawrence.

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Cooper then became the 10th actor to earn three consecutive acting nominations with his shocking nom in 2015 for Best Actor for the biographical war drama “American Sniper” as the late US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. His acting bid was considered a huge surprise given he wasn’t cited at any of the precursors and the film did not receive any attention at the Golden Globe or SAG Awards. However, the movie did well at the other guild awards, getting notices at the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America for Clint Eastwood, and the Writers Guild of America for Jason Hall. That along with two BAFTA nominations resulted in six overall signs of support at the Oscars, and two for Cooper as he was also recognized as a producer for the film when it made the Best Picture lineup.

He returned four years later for his feature directorial debut, the fourth film adaptation of “A Star Is Born,” starring he and Lady Gaga as singer-songwriters who form a tumultuous professional and personal relationship. This launched Cooper into multiple award territories as a director, actor, producer and writer, eventually receiving three of the eight total Oscar nominations for the musical romantic drama: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with co-writers Eric Roth and Will Fetters). Even then, his miss in the Best Director category was considered a snub given he nabbed bids at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and DGA.

His most recent two Oscar citations were as a producer for two movies: “Joker” in 2020 and “Nightmare Alley” in 2022. The adaptation of the titular DC Comics supervillain reunited Cooper with Todd Phillips, who previously directed him in “The Hangover,” and led the Oscar nominations with 11, resulting in wins for Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor and Hildur Guðnadóttir for Best Original Score.

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The latter film is a Guillermo del Toro adaptation of the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham and stars Cooper as Stanton Carlisle, a carnival worker who makes a career of scheming. Despite the movie missing out on most of the precursors, it was ultimately able to squeeze into the Best Picture Top 10, giving Cooper his ninth career bid.

That leads us to Cooper’s upcoming Netflix biopic “Maestro,” about the career of Bernstein and his marriage to Felicia Montealegre and the second film he will write, direct, produce and star. Prior to the release, it has already generated increasing buzz with powerful directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese on the producing team. “Maestro” made its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, with the two leads receiving praise for their performances as well as Cooper’s direction and the cinematography, alternating between black-and-white and color.

The movie is looking to be a big contender at this year’s Oscars, with many previous nominees and winners on the team, including cinematographer Matthew Libatique (nominee for “Black Swan” and “A Star Is Born”) and makeup artist Kazu Hiro (winner for “Darkest Hour” and “Bombshell”). Mulligan and Cooper are likely to go hand in hand for their co-lead performances and if the movie ends up in the Best Picture category, Cooper could land his first bids for Best Original Screenplay with his co-writer and Oscar winner Josh Singer (“Spotlight”), plus Best Director.

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