“A Star Is Born” did in fact birth a constellation of stars (a loveable dog, endless bottles of self-tanner and the film’s unsung hero, Gail), but perhaps none shone as bright as Bradley Cooper who made the impressive leap from actor to director for the film.
And yet, he was shockingly snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nomination, despite picking up three nods in total, including Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.
The historically press-averse Cooper has stayed mostly quiet on the matter, preferring to sing the praises of his cast members, but, of course, all it took is one conversation with Oprah Winfrey to get him to finally open up.
“I was not surprised, I’m never surprised about not getting nominated,” Cooper said during “Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations From Times Square” on Tuesday, according to People. “I was at a coffee shop in New York City and looked down at my phone and [my publicist] has told me congratulations and said what we had been nominated for. They didn’t even give me the bad news.”
He added, “And I went, ‘Oh wow.’ And the first thing I felt was embarrassment.”
Cooper went onto explain that the snub initially made him feel like he “didn’t do my job,” but he eventually came to the conclusion ― much like his character in the film ― that the work, not the accolades are most important.
“The truth is, even if I got the nomination, that should not give me any sense of whether I did my job or not,” Cooper continued. “That’s the trick. The trick is to make something you believe in and you work hard.”
Winfrey did her best to comfort the star, revealing that she would also be “feeling some kind of way about it” had she been in his position.
Above all else, other people’s reactions to the nominations might just be the worst part for Cooper, who expressed that he’s not exactly looking forward to the ceremony for that sole reason.
“The truth is you feel like a loser when people treat you like it afterwards,” he added, according to Entertainment Tonight. “That’s the only downside. The award show ends and first of all, they avoid you a little bit and then they do say, ‘It was a good movie.’ Thanks, thanks.”
“A Star Is Born,” however, is likely to walk away with some Oscars gold, receiving a total of eight nominations with an almost surefire win in the Best Original Song category.