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Look upon my work, ye mighty and despair, for Bradley Cooper is back, baby! We are so back!
The Righteous Gemstones fans tuning in for the Season 4 premiere just got the surprise of a lifetime when they saw a face none were expecting. As Danny McBride’s HBO televangelist comedy kicked off its final season, it did so in an unexpected fashion. A trip back in time to 1862, stacked with new faces.
Prelude
Prelude, plays like a Civil War movie. Graphic, violent, touching, and a tiny bit sadistic. Bradley Cooper plays a Gemstone ancestor and he carries the Episode. His scheming, unscrupulous crook who lives for the money goes from belonging to the trash of humanity to finding his idea of honor and redemption.
As the episode’s official logline states, “A case of divine intervention changes the sinner’s path for good,” and boy, does it live up to that promise. Cooper gives the performance of a lifetime and his happiness at being back on the screen is evident in every frame.
Even though Cooper is now an acclaimed Hollywood star, he got his start on TV, and thus to see him back on the small screen was a treat. His role may even land him his first Emmy nomination, which nicely supplements the five Oscar nominations to his name.
Behind the scenes
McBride recalled discussing with his Rough House producing partner and fellow Gemstones EP Brandon James, “who’s the type of person to go to for this.”
“It was like, it needs to be somebody that has some real charisma and charm to pull off this turn with this character, someone that the audience won’t mind going on this journey with, and somebody that can hold the entire thing on their shoulders. And I think I just threw away, flippantly, somebody like Bradley Cooper. And Brandon was like, well, we should just ask him.”
As Fate would have it, Cooper was interested in the script, he didn’t want any external influences on his performance, and the rest, as they say, was history. McBride said. “Surprisingly, I think he feels like a Gemstone regardless of him not seeing you beforehand.”
For the purists, they can calm their horses. Kelvin and the rest of the dysfunctional, yet charming Gemstone family (in the present) will be back next week. Until then, hold on to your butts.
The fourth and final season of The Righteous Gemstones airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO and Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
