Bradley Cooper may be a Hollywood hotshot in real life, but in Danielle Davies' world, he's just a working stiff, forced to smile his way through menial household chores and hold a pose in countless pictures.
Davies' Cooper is a life-size cardboard cutout, and the New Jersey mom documents her adventures with the "actor" on a website called My Life With Bradley Cooper. There's also an Instagram feed.
"The fact is, while most of us don't actually live our lives with movie stars, many of us wish we did," Davies writes on her site. "And so, being a forward thinking American, I have taken the bull by the horns, the horse by the reigns, the cardboard cutout of Bradley Cooper by the shoulders, and just pretended that I do."
Because he has no say, cardboard Cooper has to help cut the lawn, shop for groceries, read to the kids in bed and much more — all while wearing a tuxedo and not being able to bend at the waist ... or blink.
Davies, 39, told TODAY on Friday that she actually met Cooper during her sophomore year at Villanova University when they were in a play together. "Since then, he's become startlingly famous and I ... not so much."
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Davies said she started working on the project, which will also be a book, to show "how our lives continued to have these weird parallels but are ultimately nothing alike." She said the pictures are "a way for me to poke fun at how I ended up where I am and how/why my one-time stage equal has gone on to become an Academy Award nominee."
Davies, who counts "Limitless" and "Silver Linings Playbook" among her favorites of the actor's films, said she's never heard from Cooper or anyone in his camp, but that they have some "mutual friends, friends of friends," so she's sure he'll eventually hear about her project.
On her site, Davies gives a shout out to her family, including Ed, "possibly the most patient husband in the world and relatively uninterested participant in these photos." A son who is "frequently irritated by 'Bradley Cooper this and Bradley Cooper that' and a daughter, who "keeps referring to Bradley Cooper as Mark Wahlberg," are also in on the fun.
Out in public with the cardboard star, Davies said silence from strangers is the most unusual response she gets.
"Sometimes, people just stare and then totally avert their eyes," Davies told TODAY. "That's definitely the weirdest ... maybe they don't get that it's a joke? I don't know, but they are clearly uncomfortable!"
Aside from hanging out near the Jersey shore, look for Cooper in the upcoming film "American Sniper."
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