Bradley Cooper responds to Will Smith calling him ‘so beautiful’ on-stage

Smith gave Cooper a shout-out while accepting the National Board of Review’s Best Actor award

After Will Smith called Bradley Cooper “so beautiful” while accepting an award recently, the Licorice Pizza actor responded to the compliment on-stage.

The actors were both present at the National Board of Review Awards ceremony on Wednesday (16 March) in New York when the exchange occurred.

Smith gave Cooper a shout out in his speech while accepting the Best Actor award for his heavyweight performance in King Richard.

Smith, who plays tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams’s father in the Oscar-nominated movie, began by saying: “When [Richard] put the clothes on, he was trying to play a role for the world. … He felt like he deserved a certain amount of respect.”

“That dream of a parent for his children. And we all have that thing in us: We have a dream and it seems crazy, the thing that you want to do,” he added before shifting his attention to Cooper.

Smith said his colleague had “let the dream blossom inside of him” to become “so beautiful”.

“I look at Bradley Cooper. I’ve seen pictures of him when he was young. He didn’t look like this! He grew into that! He let the dream blossom inside of him! I can’t even concentrate, he’s so beautiful.”

Will Smith as tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams’s father Richard in the Oscar-nominated ‘King Richard’ (AP)

Cooper acknowledged Smith’s speech while presenting the Breakthrough Performance Award to his Licorice Pizza co-stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman.

The 47-year-old said simply: “I’m not gonna forget that, Will.”

In the run-up to the Oscars on 27 March, Smith has won the Golden Globe, Bafta, Critics Choice and Screen Actors Award for his performance in King Richard.

The actor is nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award alongside Andrew Garfield (tick, tick... BOOM!), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos). Find the full list of nominations here.