Bradley Cooper Hoping to Play ‘The Elephant Man’ on Broadway

Bradley Cooper, best known as a star in "The Hangover," wants to take to the New York stage next fall in the lead role of "The Elephant Man"

Bradley Cooper just wrapped a stint as the deformed title character in "The Elephant Man" at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and now he has his sights set on the Great White Way.

“We’re going to try to do it on Broadway next fall,” the actor told E! News, adding that he’s aiming to do “a limited run” of the production.

Cooper played the titular role at annual theater festival in Williamstown, Mass. from July 25.

In the production, based on Bernard Pomerance's play and directed by Scott Ellis, Cooper transformed himself into John Merrick, a disfigured Englishman who takes direction from an actress, Mrs. Kendall (played by Patricia Clarkson), and becomes a hit in the high-society circles of Victorian-era London. 

"We're thrilled that Bradley wants to continue exploring the role of John Merrick," Jenny Gersten, artistic director of the Williamstown Theare Festival, told TheWrap. "The entire production of 'The Elephant Man' at Williamstown was definitely a season highlight, although there is nothing confirmed beyond that at this point."

Also read: Bradley Cooper Goes Head Hunting for Warner Bros.

Cooper last appeared on Broadway in the spring of 2006, when he joined Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd in a limited run of Richard Greenberg's play "Three Days of Rain."

David Rooney, then-theater critic for Variety, wrote at the time: "Cooper, whose primary credits are in TV and film, has a real magnetic spark onstage, making much of Pip's self-deprecating assessments of his acting talent, his intellect and his unrelenting cheeriness."

Cooper has worked his way to leading-man status through a series of comedic roles in lighter fare like “The Hangover” and “He’s Just Not That Into You.” He returns to the big screen with Kristin Bell and Dax Shepard in the road-trip comedy "Hit & Run," due out on Aug. 22, and then opposite Zoe Saldana in the literary drama “The Words,” which opens on Sept. 7.

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