Sam Elliott, was more like a father figure than a brother to Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born.Cooper played troubled singer Jackson Maine, the guy with a brilliant voice who dealt with addiction and mental health issues.
And Sam Elliott, the new star of 1883, was his older brother, Bobby. He also managed Jackson’s career in the 2018 film, the fourth remake of the movie.
Sam Elliott said the two hit it off on-screen and off. Cooper, Elliott said, was the “real deal.”
“I didn’t know him before this started really,” Sam Elliott said in an interview with BlackGirlNerds.com. “But I suspected what type of guy he was. After my first encounter with him, I thought, “this guy was, he was the real deal!” He’s honest and he’s on this search for truth.
“He’s committed to it, just trying to tell the truth,” Elliott said. “There’s a certain amount of the truth (in the movie), because it’s the nature of the beast. That didn’t make it in the cut.”
Bradley Cooper Imitated Sam Elliott in the Movie
Coincidentally, Cooper felt much the same about Sam Elliott. You remember Cooper’s voice as Jackson Maine? He was doing his best imitation of Elliott, who is known for his velvety baritone. Cooper pitched the movie to Elliott by playing him audio of Jackson.
“It was pretty unsettling to say the least,” Sam Elliott told Deadline. “And I think he prefaced with, before he put it on, “This is going to sound a little weird.” And he was right, it did. But I thought, “God, if this is where this guy’s really going to go with his sound, lucky me.”
Elliott continued: “But I really think that he settled on the voice, the sound, before he thought of me playing that part. I may be wrong, because I’ve heard him say that he wrote it for me, which I don’t…I’m not sure.”
The movie helped Elliott earn his first Academy Award nomination. Cooper also got a best actor nod and a nomination for best adapted screenplay.Maybe the two will act on another project together. But the 77-year-old Elliott is starting a new project that sounds pretty interesting.
Earlier this month, creators of 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, announced the cast’s big names. And Sam Elliott headed up the list. The prequel also includes country stars Tim McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill. They’ll play James and Margaret Dutton, the ancestors of the Dutton family in Yellowstone.
As for Sam Elliott, he’ll portray Shea Brennan, a cowboy from Texas who leads the Duttons and others to Montana. The 1883 description says that Brennan is trying to escape his very sad past. We just don’t know what the past is. There aren’t a ton of details.
However, we do know what Sam Elliott will look like as Shea Brennan. He’s grown his gray hair to his shoulders. And he’s also keeping his famous mustache. Nic Sheridan, who is married to Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram.