Bradley Cooper Was 'Embarrassed' Over Best Director Snub at Oscars

Bradley Cooper was widely considered one of the biggest snubs by the Academy when he didn’t receive a nomination for Best Director for his work on “A Star is Born.” While it was a surprise for prognosticators, Cooper took the news differently, noting that he was “embarrassed” to not have done his part to earn a nod.

“I was not surprised. I’m never surprised about not getting anything,” Cooper told Oprah Winfrey on Tuesday as part of her “Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square.” “I felt embarrassed that I didn’t do my part. Well, I’ll work on that.”

Cooper was told “A Star is Born” got eight nominations in all, but his team didn’t tell him the bad news that he was snubbed for Best Director. That’s when the embarrassment set in.

Also Read: Bradley Cooper Shocks Spike Lee by Revealing He Once Auditioned for Him: 'You Got Me Out Quick'

“If I were you, I would be feeling some kind of way,” Winfrey said to Cooper. “Yeah, embarrassment. I didn’t do my job,” he replied.

The nominees for Best Director at the 2019 Oscars are Alfonso Cuarón for “Roma,” Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman,” Pawel Pawlikowski for “Cold War,” Adam McKay for “Vice” and Yorgos Lanthimos for “The Favourite.”

Cooper also talked with Oprah about the advice he got from Lady Gaga about singing, which was to “not” try to actually sing and instead just focus on telling a story. And he also talked about driving around Santa Barbara trying to find Oprah’s house, and about holding his father in his arms as his father died.

Also Read: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper Surprise Vegas Audience With 'Shallow' Duet (Video)

“Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square” took place on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at the PlayStation Theater in New York City. The event will air on OWN on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, and will be available on “Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations” podcast starting with Cooper’s episode on Feb. 12.

Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

In 2019, Spike Lee became only the sixth Black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no Black filmmaker has won in that category.
Getty Images
John Singleton, "Boyz N the Hood" (1991) • Two years after Spike Lee was passed over for a nomination for "Do the Right Thing," John Singleton became the first African American to earn a Best Director nomination for his star-studded drama set in South Central L.A. That year, Jonathan Demme won the award for "The Silence of the Lambs."
Getty Images
Lee Daniels, "Precious" (2009) • Eighteen years passed before a second African American filmmaker was recognized: Lee Daniels, for his gritty portrait of a young woman seeking to overcome a childhood of poverty and abuse. In another Oscar first, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Oscar, for "The Hurt Locker."
Getty Images
Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" (2013) • British director Steve McQueen gritty drama about American slavery picked up nine nominations, including one for his directing. While the film won Best Picture (and McQueen earned a statuette as a producer), he lost the directing prize to "Gravity" filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón.
Getty Images
Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight" (2016) • Jenkins' underdog indie pulled off a major upset, beating front-runner "La La Land" for Best Picture. But Damien Chazelle claimed the directing prize for the modern-day musical. (Jenkins did take home the statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay.)
Getty Images
Jordan Peele, "Get Out" (2017) • Peele became the latest actor-turned-filmmaker to earn a Best Director nod, for his feature filmmaking debut. Peele won an Oscar for his original screenplay but Guillermo del Toro won Best Director for "The Shape of Water."
Getty Images
Spike Lee, "BlackKklansman" (2018) • Despite wide acclaim for such films as 1989's "Do the Right Thing" and 1992's "Malcolm X," the pioneering filmmaker earned his first nomination decades into his career for this fact-based tale of a Black undercover cop who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee shared the Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the film, but Alfonso Cuarón took home Best Director for "Roma."
Getty Images

1 of 7

Will Regina King join the club this year for her work on “One Night in Miami”?

In 2019, Spike Lee became only the sixth Black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no Black filmmaker has won in that category.

View In Gallery

Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

7DAYFREETRIAL

7
DAY
FREE
TRIAL