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Under the care of a famous young doctor, who educ "The Elephant Man" is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. A horribly deformed young man, who has been a freak attraction in traveling side shows, is found abandoned and helpless and is admitted for observation to Whitechapel, a prestigious London hospital. I didn't even fly in this production, but it was enough to convert me."The Elephant Man" is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Mine was playing Peter Pan in a third-grade play. That's part of human nature.īradley Cooper has said this play was his reason for becoming an actor. People feel great generosity when they love somebody, but they also feel desperate need for themselves. There's always this conflict between the selfish motivations and the unselfish ones. That tension exists both in philanthropy and love. Has playing this role made you more suspicious of the allegedly good intentions and altruism of others - that maybe they're doing it to glorify themselves? He slowly sees all the ways that love is at odds with his project. He falls in love with him, really.in a platonic way. Yet he's a deeply feeling person who loves this man. Initially, he takes in Merrick as a means to further his career. He wants to gain social status and move up in the world.
The elephant man script play full#
Treves is a decidedly middle-class guy, full of aspirations. He had a fighting spirit and is less stiff-upper-lip than Morton. The beauty of that character is that this romantic side of him starts to leak out, against his better judgment. He has such difficulty expressing any kind of emotion. Personality-wise, Sir Robert Morton is deeply repressed. Is the role of star surgeon Frederick Treves very different? Since that initial run, you've appeared on Broadway in the revival of The Winslow Boy, in which you played star barrister Sir Robert Morton.
I was determined that I was going to know all that stuff before we started on Broadway. I have these huge speeches in the play that are really hard to remember because they're full of anatomical language, and I kept screwing up the order of the lines. I flew back and forth between Williamstown and Atlanta three times over three weeks. So the rehearsal process up there was crazy. I'm literally like, "I'll be right back," and I'm on the next plane to Albany. "…I just need to go do The Elephant Man at Williamstown." Instead, they added a line in the scene right before that: I say to Reese Witherspoon, "Honey I'll be right back…"Īlessandro Nivola plays Dr. The film sent me a new script and the scene that was the roadblock was no longer in the script. A half hour later I got a call from my agent saying it was all sorted out. When I turned it down, Bradley called me up and was like, "Bro, do you really want to do this play?" I was like, yeah, so he told me to hold on. They just couldn't get me out of this one scene.
The elephant man script play movie#
I was filming Devil's Knot and there was one scene in that movie that presented such a logistical problem for our rehearsal schedule that I had to turn Treves down. Originally, however, I had to turn the role down.
I spoke to Bradley and he is so passionate about this story. I was surprised at how dramatic the role was. He ends the play with a nervous breakdown and a complete loss of faith. He goes from being supremely confident and successful, verging on arrogant. When I read the play, I saw that it was completely different from the film. Like Bradley, I'd seen the film when I was younger and I remembered loving it. He actually shaves his entire body for the role because he wants to be as neutral as possible as the vessel of this character.Īs you mentioned, you were in the original run of this production at Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012. So when we did The Elephant Man at Williamstown, I grew the mustache and darkened my hair. We wanted to create as much contrast as possible. We don't look alike, but we don't look wildly different.
The elephant man script play professional#
I've had a number of people say to me, "Oh God…men and their facial hair." But I've done it for purely professional reasons! Bradley and I normally have fairly similar coloring. I live in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, and everyone there thinks I've grown it as a fashion statement. Alessandro Nivola stars in the Broadway revival of The Elephant Man at the Booth Theatre.
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