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BostonHerald.com
November 13, 2005
Cookin' with gas: 'Kitchen Confidential' star Bradley Cooper whips up a new career post-'Alias'
By Amy Amatangelo/ Television
Don’t read the message boards.
That’s what Bradley Cooper, who plays outrageous chef Jack Bourdain on Fox’s “Kitchen Confidential” learned from his seasons on “Alias.”
Devoted fans of ABC’s spy drama had a lot to say about Sydney’s best friend, Will Tippin, and Cooper read every word of it.
“Nothing good comes from it, and, also, it’s so utterly narcissistic,” Cooper said during a recent interview. “Let me go home and read about me. The thing is, you’re always searching for the bad comment. I wish I could go on and have a laugh but I can’t.”
Cooper had no qualms about the script for “Kitchen Confidential.”
“I was in New York shooting ‘Law & Order’ and the script came along and I completely connected to it. From the first page, when he says, ‘Ever since I was 8 years old, I knew what I wanted to be.’ When I was 8 years old, I wanted to be a chef or an actor. I used to cook all the time. I worked in restaurants the first half of my life,” Cooper said.
The struggling show returns Dec. 5 after Fox benched the series first for baseball and then for sweeps. The next new episode will include guest star Michael Vartan as a rival French chef. It was Cooper’s idea to have his old “Alias” co-star stop by.
“Everyone was jazzed up about the idea, and two weeks later, there was a script. Ron Rifkin came by the set the other day, and I’d love to have him on the show. Basically, I’m going to migrate everyone from ‘Alias’ to the show,” Cooper said, then laughed.
The ratings-challenged “Kitchen Confidential” now follows “Arrested Development.”Both shows have been cut back to 13 episodes and the future looks bleak.
“I don’t think the ‘Arrested Development’ audience would like ‘Kitchen Confidential.’ I love ‘Arrested Development,’ but I think it’s a different kind of humor. I think it draws a different crowd. ‘Kitchen Confidential’ would be great after ‘American Idol.’ ”
His movie “Failure to Launch,” with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey, hits theaters in March. Despite his background in TV, Cooper prefers movies.
“TV is a machine. I’m lucky (this is) a great show and a great cast, but it’s so fast. It’s really like running a marathon. Also filming something while it’s being simultaneously judged is not the ideal way to work,” he said.
After years of being known as Sydney’s best friend, his role as the bad guy opposite Vince Vaughn in “Wedding Crashers” has begun to change how fans view him.
“Now instead of (fans) saying, ‘Stay away from Sydney’ or ‘Stop being so annoying,’ it’s like, ‘Dude, did you really hit Vince? Holy (expletive).’ I’m still the same person - but it’s like all of the sudden I went from this idealist sort of goody two-shoes to this sort of ass-kicking sociopath.”
© Boston Herald and Herald Media 2005
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