ShareThisIt's a freakishly funny formula: A chicken, a tiger, a Mike Tyson, a Wayne Newton, a Carrot Top, eight babies (four sets of twins), three unknown leads and Vegas, day and night.
The stars of "The Hangover" may not be unknown for long if the comedy hits the jackpot at the box office. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis want what happened in Vegas not to stay there.
They play groomsmen who head to the Strip for a bachelor blowout with their pal, portrayed by Justin Bartha, who goes MIA along with their memories. The preview alone prompted strangers to start sharing tales, Cooper said in a recent call from his hometown of Philadelphia.
"I've had about 20 people come up and say, 'Hey, man, I saw the trailer, and I got a story for you that will surpass the movie,' and I just sit back and think it's impossible to surpass what these guys go through."
Do most visitors wake up in their hotel suite with a tiger? And, except for a single scene when the big cat unexpectedly springs to life, that was a real animal, because director Todd Phillips wanted to avoid using computer-generated images.
"It was very, very scary," says Cooper, who had to feed the critter for a still photograph. The animal had been used in movies before, but, the actor says, "The jury's still out as to whether I think one can train a tiger."
A native of Jenkintown, just outside Philadelphia, Cooper took up residence at Caesars Palace, which lent its real rooftop for some key scenes. No matter what the cast or crew did, no one paid much mind.
"People in Las Vegas were completely indifferent to what we were doing. We'd come home, I'd look like I had just gotten mauled by a tiger and Zach looked like he just got the ... beaten out of him, we'd be in the elevator and no one would even bat an eyelash."
At the Riviera Hotel & Casino, where Martin Scorsese shot "Casino" and "Hangover" lingered over the blackjack tables and spoofed a famous movie moment, cast and crew ended a 19-hour day at 8 a.m. The roulette players in the background were real people gambling for much of that time.
"They were all really playing. That was a working casino," and just one of the stops on the "Hangover" tour.
"We shot all over the place during the day in Vegas. I think that's why the movie works on another level -- Vegas during the day, which is something you don't usually see in other movies."
You also don't usually see a big studio movie with unknowns, although Cooper hosted "Saturday Night Live" in February on the heels of the ensemble comedy "He's Just Not That Into You."
In addition to roles on TV's "Nip/Tuck," "Kitchen Confidential" and "Alias," he appeared in "Yes Man," "Failure to Launch," "Wedding Crashers" and (a comedy that prepared his parents for anything down the raunchy road) "Wet Hot American Summer."
In 2006, he made his Broadway debut in "Three Days of Rain," starring Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd. It was "the best thing I ever did ... a life-changing experience. It was wonderful; she's the ultimate professional," he says of Roberts.
Cooper was in another production when Phillips pulled the trigger on "Hangover."
"I was doing a play in Williamstown (Theatre Festival in Massachusetts) in July and then got an e-mail from Todd Phillips, who I hadn't heard from in about eight months, saying, 'We gonna do this movie or what?' The next thing I know, like a week later, I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada, for a month and a half living at Caesars Palace."
He and Galifianakis drove to Vegas, much as their characters do, and then Cooper settled into Sin City.
"Imagine hell and then imagine that you start to get used to it. By the end, I would get off the plane and actually feel at home when I heard the slot machines that are placed all over the airport."
His go-to gambling favorites? Roulette, blackjack and poker. "I'd say I've had some luck in the past and then not so much. Gambling's not the best pastime, but I haven't lost big money at all or played with big money," because he didn't have it to bet.
He also didn't have the luxury of leisure time, working 16-hour days and weekends on "Hangover." Cooper says, "So, any time we weren't working, we were basically asleep. It was a rough shoot. We felt like we did a war movie or something."
The son of a stockbroker and a homemaker who lived next door to a movie theater, Cooper didn't pursue acting until after graduating from Georgetown University. He applied to the MFA program at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York.
"My father's a huge cinephile, so I really sort of fell in love with film at an early age and kind of knew I wanted to be an actor but never did anything about it until after college." His first job came at 26, an age when some actors are already washed up or exploring second careers.
Cooper remembers going to the movies to see "Amadeus," "Platoon" and "Stand By Me," while his dad introduced him to "Apocalypse Now," "Network," "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," "The Dresser," "Shampoo" and "The Last Detail."
His parents, although blinded by their love for their son, were harsh in his early days. When he landed the role of Will Tippin on "Alias," they groused: "We can't hear you, you're mumbling." Not anymore.
He appeared on Sunday's MTV Movie Awards, the first week of "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" and is fielding questions about the Green Lantern ("I don't know anything about it") and a possible sequel to "Hangover."
"It'd be great if there was. I'd love to do it," he says, but knows Warner Bros. needs to play one hand at a time.
"Let's just wait and see how it does when it opens."
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette movie editor Barbara Vancheri can be reached at bvancheri(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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