Bradley Cooper caught ‘Judge Judy’ playing on Jay-Z’s TV when he visited Beyoncé: ‘I was freaking out’

Bradley Cooper admitted this week he was surprised to find hip hop mogul Jay-Z watching an episode of "Judge Judy" several years ago when he went to his house to meet Beyoncé about a potential acting job.

Cooper said that he had pitched the idea for "A Star is Born" to a Warner Brothers executive and was told he could do it if he kept the budget under $25 million and got the "Dangerously in Love" singer for the lead.  

"So then, I went to Beyoncé’s house, and Jay-Z was watching ‘Judge Judy,’" the "Maestro" star told Willie Geist this week in an interview with the SAG/AFTRA Foundation. "I still remember."

"No!" Geist interjected in surprise. 

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"I’m not kidding, and I was freaking out," he laughed. 

The 49-year-old said he had a "weird cough" when he was pitching the movie to the Grammy Award-winning singer. "Like it was so crazy." 

"And she was incredible and so was he and we developed it for like a year together," he said. "I mean, she is one of the greatest people of all time. And then that fell through."

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He said he next thought of Adele, who texted him that she was "busy."

The actor explained, "And then I was at this cancer benefit, and Lady Gaga is singing ‘La Vie En Rose’ at this cancer benefit, and I was like ‘Oh my’ – I mean it just blew the doors off of the whole place and in that moment I was like ‘What was I even thinking?’ And then I asked to meet her and I drove up to Malibu and I met with her."

Cooper said as soon as she came down the stairs "it was like right away, ‘Oh, she’s a girl from Jersey,' and ‘You want to eat some pasta,’ and we’re eating, and I’m like ‘Do you want to sing together?’ and next thing we’re singing at the piano and that was it." 

The "American Sniper" star said he knew "If I could just capture this person that’s sitting here on the front porch" she would be perfect in the film, adding that her "effortless" singing was "beyond."

"She is so gifted," he added. 

Cooper said Gaga was a "huge" part of writing the script about an alcoholic star who mentors, falls in love with and is eventually overshadowed by a struggling singer. 

One of the goals of the script was to "get it to a place where she could just be at ease and show her soul and make a movie," he said.

He also mentioned singing live with Lucas Nelson, Willie Nelson’s son, at Stagecoach and the Glastonbury Festival, saying he felt that was important for the movie. 

"I was surprised when I learned some movies, many movies up until that point really weren’t singing live."

He said he would wonder "What am I doing as a director?" if he did not have Lady Gaga singing live. 

Even during table reads, "she just started singing and everybody’s crying immediately."

The remake was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 2019 and Lady Gaga won for Best Original Song for her duet "Shallow" with Cooper.