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The Hangover star, 37, on giving up drinking, family love and his most challenging role yet
EL: Your new movie, Silver Linings Playbook, has been getting a lot of awards buzz. Tell us more.
Bradley: It’s about a man, Pat Solitano, who has bipolar disorder and moves back in with his parents after getting out of a psychiatric institution. He ends up falling in love with Jennifer Lawrence’s character, a troubled widow. It’s a really hopeful film and there’s ballroom dancing in it!
EL: Sounds like a demanding part…
BC: It was. When I first read the script, I didn’t think I was right for it. But [the director] David O. Russell called because another actor had dropped out and said, “Will you do it?” I made the leap because he believed in me.
EL: It’s been a tough year for you [Bradley’s father died of cancer in January]. How have you coped?
BC: Just by being around people that help you heal. In the movie, my character is healed by his family, by love. He’s lucky enough to have people like that in his life and I’ve been lucky in my life, too, to have a lot of love around me.
EL: Do you think people still identify you too closely with Phil, your character from The Hangover?
BC: If that’s the case, I’m blessed. I’m proud of The Hangover. We’re shooting the third one right now in LA. That’s why I have the Phil hair.
EL: You are very different from Phil in one key respect: you no longer drink.
BC: No, I don’t. I just decided to stop a few years back because it wasn’t doing me – or my life – any good. I don’t miss it. I wouldn’t say it’s easy not to drink, I just don’t do it.
EL: How do you feel about fame? Is it easier to deal with as you go along?
BC: If I’m not selling a movie, my life is pretty normal. It’s not like I walk down the street going, “Hey man, I’m [People magazine’s] Sexiest Man Alive!” I do get recognised, but not in a big way. Friends from home say, “Oh man, how can you leave your house?” But I take the subway in New York all the time; I walk around the city. It’s not a big deal.
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