Bradley Cooper is set to star as the Elephant Man in a new Broadway production
Bradley Cooper is set to take on one of his most challenging – and unexpected – roles to date, as the Oscar-nominated actor gears up to tackle the infamous role of the Elephant Man in a new Broadway production.
The 39-year-old American Hustle actor will be swapping the bright lights of Hollywood for New York to play the famously disfigured Joseph Merrick, marking Bradley's first return to the stage in eight years.
Merrick was a 19th century Englishman afflicted with physical abnormalities due to a congenital disorder, and the new stage show will be a revival of Bernard Pomerance’s play, The Elephant Man, which won a Tony Award in 1979.
But the audience might be surprised to hear that Bradley won't be covering up that pretty face of his entirely...
According to The Telegraph, Bradley's good looks won't go to waste as he will be taking to the stage without any make-up or prosthetics and will attempt to convey Merrick's deformity solely through physical movement.
The new casting will mark the second time Bradley Cooper has taken on the infamous role, having already played the part of Merrick at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012.
No further details have yet been released about the upcoming production, but rehearsals are expected to begin this autumn.
A Victorian armchair that was custom built for the Elephant Man is expected to raise £1,500 when it is sold at auction later this month.
Merrick, whose tragic story was turned into the 1980 film, regularly sat in the chair as he lived out the final few years of his life at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.
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