Vince Vaughn's Wedding Crashers Role Changed Bradley Cooper In One Major Way

Sometimes, inspiration and a good push can come from the most interesting of sources. In Bradley Cooper's case, he was encouraged to try something entirely different with his career thanks to some inspiration from his "Wedding Crashers" co-star Vince Vaughn.

Before being cast in the 2005 comedy, Cooper had been typecast as your workaday handsome romantic lead — and had treated acting as something that needed to be perfected before he hit the set. "Up until that point, I was always just trying to get it right on camera. Be present and get it right," he told Variety in 2024. "I'm watching Vince Vaughn destroy a scene, just crush it, and then he wants another take." The realization that Vaughn had the humility to admit that he'd put in an imperfect performance and the bravery to ask to improve upon it freed Cooper as an actor. "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," he said.

But it wasn't just Vaughn's relaxed acting style that made an impression on Cooper; it was the very act of moving away from more stereotypical leading man roles and becoming a part of the "Wedding Crashers" world that changed his career trajectory. Taking on the part of Sack Lodge helped open Cooper's vista as an actor, and his success in "Wedding Crashers" would present an entire world of acting possibilities for him. 

Since "Wedding Crashers" allowed Bradley Cooper to break out of his leading man mold, he's built up his reputation for versatility in a wide variety of roles. Instead of solely attaching himself to R-rated successes such as "The Hangover" franchise and "Failure to Launch," he wound up scoring hits in the dramedy "Silver Linings Playbook" and the action-comedy big-screen translation of "The A-Team." 

Ever since, he has balanced mainstream fare — such as voicing Rocket Raccoon in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" series of films — with independent or more serious works, such as "A Star is Born," "The Place Beyond The Pines," "American Hustle" and  "Licorice Pizza." It's a balancing act that has won Cooper a total of 12 Oscar nominations for both his acting and his producing credits — a stack of nods that thus far hasn't borne any fruit yet. Fans will see if his luck changes and his work and unrecognizable look as Leonard Bernstein in "Maestro" will reverse his luck when the 96th Academy Awards ceremony takes place on March 10, 2024.