Anyone who’s ever attended school knows the horrors of public speaking. Getting up in front of your peers to deliver something creative or educational goes against the self-preservation instinct for many. And to go beyond speaking and do some kind of performance, well, it takes a special kind of person to want to do that. There’s a reason something called “stage fright” exists.
Bradley Cooper surely has overcome some aspects of this, between presenting at awards shows, television interviews, and doing theater productions, but that doesn’t mean he’s automatically ready to jump behind a microphone and do live performances of his A Star Is Born songs. Just recently in Las Vegas, the actor channeled his Jackson Maine character and gave a first public live performance of “Shallow” with Lady Gaga at her Las Vegas reseidency. The chemistry of the two was palpable even in a shaky Youtube clip, but talking to E!, he admitted it wasn’t all fun.
“That was terrifying,” Cooper said in an interview at the Directors Guild Awards. “I just had to like, Zen out and just pray that I wouldn’t ruin her show. Because, think about it, she just crushed it or two hours… and I thought, ‘Please let me just be on pitch.'”
And with another performance of the tune scheduled for this year’s Oscars, set to take place on February 24, Cooper expects to be in a similar headspace. “I’m sure I’ll be terrified,” he said in the interview.
Also nominated for Best Actor, and with his directorial debut up for many other awards including Best Picture, Cooper is set for a nervewracking night all around.
