In case you didn’t notice, comedian Dave Chappelle is in Bradley Cooper‘s A Star Is Born. He’s not in it for very long, but for the few minutes he is, the 45-year-old comic plays a character named “Noodles” who is friends with Cooper’s alcoholic country musician Jackson Maine. The question is, why? Why did the Chappelle’s Show alum and internationally renowned performer decide to do a small part in the third remake of an Oscar-winning film (if not franchise)?
Chappelle, whose Broadway show just opened, explained precisely this during a Q&A session with the audience after a recent performance. Per Vulture, he was asked how and why he was cast in A Star Is Born at all. Did he know Cooper or Gaga? Or, did he audition for the part? It turns out he was initially introduced to Cooper by Kanye West at a London hotel a few years back. When the actor began developing the project, he reached out to comedian — by stopping by the annual party he hosts in an Ohio neighbor’s barn:
Cooper had to keep calling Chappelle “every two days” before Chappelle finally agreed to show up for the few days it would take to shoot the role, and Chappelle explained that he decided to do it mostly to get Cooper to stop bugging him. “He sent me the script…” Chappelle cracked, “but I never read the script. I didn’t know the shit was going to be good!”
So, not only did Chappelle evidently agree to be in the film to get Cooper “to stop bugging him,” be he also never read the script before shooting began. But that’s alright! After all, you’ve got to love an old neighborhood friend whose name is “Noodles.”
(Via Vulture)
