How Will Arnett’s Friendship with Bradley Cooper Shaped Their New Movie: ‘We Could Really Rely on Each Other’ (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Will Arnett speaks to PEOPLE exclusively at the Nov. 13 GQ Men of the Year celebration

• Bradley Cooper, Arnett’s longtime friend, was both his director and co-writer in new movie Is This Thing On?

• “Because we do have that long-time friendship, we could really rely on each other and be really honest with each other,” the actor shares

Will Arnett did double duty in Bradley Cooper’s new movie: operating as both his actor and his longtime friend.

Is This Thing On? (in theaters Dec. 19), which Cooper, 50, directed and co-wrote with Arnett 55, and Mark Chappell, follows a stand-up comedian going through a potential divorce. It marks the first time Arnett acted in a project directed by the Star Is Born filmmaker.

“I think you could run the risk of having that thing of worrying that you might not see eye to eye,” Arnett tells PEOPLE at the Thursday, Nov. 13 GQ Men of the Year celebration in Los Angeles. “And we just never did.”

Collaborating on Is This Thing On? with each other and costars Laura Dern, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Andra Day,Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds and more, “It was all just good, it was all positive,” recalls Arnett. “Everything that we did just fell into the positive category, which was amazing.”

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Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper

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The Arrested Development alum’s ease with Cooper “made it so much easier to work on something that was really, intensely emotional,” he adds of the Oscar nominee’s third feature as writer and director. “And because we do have that long-time friendship, we could really rely on each other and be really honest with each other.”

The duo have “respect” for each other, Arnett concludes. “We always seem to come to some kind of an agreement. I don’t know why. We never end it badly on opposing sides.”

Cooper and Arnett have known each other as far back as costarring together in 2008 Rainn Wilson film The Rocker. In their early career days, they were even neighbors in Los Angeles. Is This Thing On? also served as a reunion for Arnett and Hayes, 55, amid their co-hosting the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman.

Following its premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival in October, Is This Thing On? is in theaters Dec. 19.

Read the original article on People