The co-star of Lady Gaga confessed that he regretted not checking on the producer's controversial past, claiming that he was too determined to make a movie.
- September 15, 2018
AceShowbiz - Bradley Cooper regrets not checking on film boss Jon Peters' past before agreeing to give him a producer credit on "A Star Is Born".
Peters, who was a producer of his then-girlfriend Barbra Streisand's 1976 film version of the rags-to-riches tale, is back in the news after sexual harassment claims against him resurfaced last week, ends September 7.
A Jezebel article revealed Peters had been sued for sexual harassment at least five times, with some of the lawsuits settled out of court. After the story was published Warner Bros. bosses made it clear they legally had to list him as a producer of Cooper's directorial debut, but Bradley is still convinced more could have been done to distance the makers of the new film from the producer.
"If I had known all those things, I would have done it differently," Cooper, who also stars in the movie, opposite Lady GaGa, told NPR. "I wanted to make the movie. I knew I had to get consent from him, otherwise there's no film. But I should have checked."
Fortunately for Cooper and Warner Bros. executives, they won't have to deal with Peters or his past dramas if "A Star Is Born" lands an Oscar nomination as officials at the Producers Guild of America have announced that Peters isn't eligible for an Academy Award if the film wins Best Picture, because he didn't have a "substantial involvement".
Bradley is also thankful Peters wasn't on set: "(It was) an environment where everybody feels safe," the director said. "There's no room for disrespect, nothing. And that's something that you'd have to ask everybody who was involved, but I feel like that's the environment I created. Luckily, Jon wasn't there."
