Bradley Cooper wants the rich jerk role in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

So we meet again Bradley Cooper. I just wrote an article about you on Thursday and now another one today.

During an interview with The New York Times, Cooper expressed interest in playing the role of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s version of THE GREAT GATSBY. You might remember Tom’s character from the book; he is the husband of Gatsby’s great love, Daisy. Tom is a wealthy, racist, sexist, douche. Yeah, that’s my critical analysis of the character.

Cooper said this about Tom, “To me, he’s the best character in the book. He’s so complicated. He’s xenophobic, he’s an alcoholic, but he also understands some profound stuff about class. Whoever plays it has to take a gentle hand, because it could so easily be stock, where he’s a rich jerk you don’t identify with at all.” Is this a good part for Cooper? Well, he is really good at playing the douchey guy, especially in a comedy like WEDDING CRASHERS.

Is Luhrmann even considering Cooper for a part? Obviously we don’t know and neither does he, “I don’t even know if I’m on Lurhmann’s radar. Maybe he’ll read this article after the role’s cast and say, ‘Oh. Ha. Yeah, that guy was never going to get it.'”

Only the roles of Gatsby and Daisy are filled right now, by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, respectively. THE GREAT GATSBY will shoot in Sydney and is set for a 2012 release.