Bradley Cooper‘s onscreen debut will always be a special moment for him — but apparently he was “terrified” the whole time!
The Oscar nom was all smiles on Thursday while he accepted the prestigious award for top performer of the year at the Santa Barbara Film Festival thanks to his work on Maestro, and it was also a perfect time for him to reflect on how far he’d come. He took it all the way back to his first ever acting gig as Jake the downtown smoker in Sex and the City — a fleeting romance for Sarah Jessica Parker‘s character Carrie Bradshaw in season two.
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In fact, the 49-year-old admitted he was shocked he got the role:
“I still remember it: I was Jake the downtown smoker. I auditioned for it, and at that time I didn’t really realize that you could ever get the job. Honestly, I thought that I had a job as a doorman at Morgans Hotel and then I was lucky enough to audition.”
Aww, haha!
Despite his excitement for the successful audition, however, he said he was “terrified” of the whole shoot — because he’d lied about being able to drive a stick shift during the interview, and it came back to bite him:
“I remember when I got the call to do it I was terrified. ‘What do you mean I’m actually going to have to [drive]?’ I couldn’t drive a stick shift, so they sent me to Models Driving School and I was just terrified. I still messed it up, so they had somebody else drive the car and I just had to … pretend that we stopped.”
Oof!
After the initial nerves surrounding his appearance on the show, he said things eventually settled down on set — and he gave SJP her flowers for being so cool:
“[It was] really fun. Sarah Jessica Parker was incredible.”
Someone at the festival then took the chance to remind him that his episode’s 25 anniversary is coming up this year, to which he quipped:
“[I feel] old. S**t, I’ve been around, dude.”
LOLz!
An important reminder that lying on your resumé is a risky move. But it definitely worked in Bradley’s favor this time! Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via HBO/YouTube/MEGA/WENN]