Looks like Joaquin Phoenix has some company in the Oscars-snubbing club, as Bradley Cooper recently said that he has no desire to win an Academy Award.
Cooper was nominated for Best Actor for his role in “Silver Linings Playbook.” But in an interview with British GQ, as reported by UK newspaper Metro, he revealed that his priorities shifted significantly after his father's death in 2011 from lung cancer.
“I watched him dying and I was there by his bed watching him, breathing with him, and then I saw his last breath and he was gone,” Cooper said. “I experienced the whole thing. And that was a watershed moment that I was privileged to experience. And it changed everything. Nothing has ever been the same since.”
His father's death gave him perspective, Cooper said, teaching him to live in the moment and let go of things he can't control -- including whether or not he wins an Academy Award.
“The beauty is that I just don't sweat sh*t any more,” he said. “ … I don't want to win an Oscar. It would change nothing. Nothing. The things in my life that aren't fulfilled would not be fulfilled. Career-wise, right now, it's better that I don't win one. I don't want to win. I don't.”
Cooper's fellow 2012 Best Actor nominee, Joaquin Phoenix, who picked up a nomination for his work in “The Master,” made headlines last year when he told Interview magazine that the Academy Awards were “total, utter bullsh*t,” and something that he “[didn't] want to be a part of.” Unlike Cooper, however, Phoenix's remarks seemed to have more to do with his general distaste for awards shows than a specific, life-changing epiphany.
Phoenix and Cooper lost the Best Actor award at last month's Academy Awards ceremony to Daniel Day-Lewis, who played the title role in “Lincoln.”
Cooper's full interview with British GQ appears in the April issue, which is due out later this week.
[via British GQ b/w Metro]
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