When starring in movies like "American Hustle" or "The Hangover," 40-year-old actor Bradley Cooper is able to stay at his normal weight — around 185 pounds.

But for his Oscar-nominated role as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in "American Sniper," Cooper had to bulk up to play the 225-pound sniper.

Kyle, who died in 2013 after being shot by a former Marine who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had 160 confirmed kills under his belt from his time as a Navy SEAL sniper in Iraq.

"I had to get to the point where I believed I was him," Cooper told Men's Health magazine. "At 185 pounds, it would’ve been a joke. His size was such a part of who he was ... Chris wasn’t ripped. He wasn’t sinewy. He was just a bear."

So Cooper enlisted the help of trainer Jason Walsh to help him gain more than 40 pounds in just 10 weeks "with the least amount of damage to my body."

Walsh put Cooper on a rigorous diet and workout regimen. Men's Health detailed how the trainer transformed Cooper's body in such a short period of time:

They trained twice a day. In the first workout, beginning at 5 a.m., they focused on structural exercises like deadlifts and squats to build a foundation solid enough to hold the extra mass. The second workout, late in the afternoon, was more focused on traditional muscle-building exercises. Cooper needed both types of training to convincingly portray Chris Kyle.

In addition to twice-daily workouts, Walsh had Cooper eating more than 5,000 calories every day. "We had to force-feed him," said Walsh. "That was the hardest part."

Cooper agreed, explaining: "It was a real shock to my body. If it’s pizza and cake, that’s one thing. Putting 6,000 calories a day in your body gets old quick."

"American Sniper" writer-producer Jason Hall revealed to People magazine that Cooper "was eating about every 55 minutes" and that "he was determined to do it naturally, he didn't want to use any hormones or steroids or anything. He was just very systematic about it and took his trainer with him wherever he went." 

By the end of the 10-week training, Cooper achieved his goal of gaining 40 pounds of muscle to look like this:

Check out those guns!

Hall told People that along with the massive intake of food and intense workouts, Cooper's preparation for the role also included twice-daily lessons with a vocal coach, as well as several hours spent watching footage of Kyle, whom he studied "over and over again." 

When it came to actually using a rifle, Cooper trained with a real Navy SEAL sniper Kevin Lacz, who served with Kyle and was a consultant on the movie. 

"He actually proved himself to be really good," Hall added. "The second day, in the morning, he went out there and was consistently hitting 800-yard targets the size of a teacup. So he took to it pretty quickly." 

After fully transforming his physical appearance and learning the new skill set, Cooper told Men's Health: "I knew this was going to be the way in to playing Chris, and it felt amazing. It's also nice to know it's possible to do it naturally, in that amount of time."

But Cooper had to shed the weight quickly for his new role in "The Elephant Man" on Broadway.

To help him lose the 40 pounds, the actor told Vanity Fair he would bring pumpkin soup to eat during rehearsals for his new play.

Cooper has since slimmed back down to his normal 185-pound weight, showing off his trimmer physique at the "American Sniper" New York premiere in December:

But the actor's transformation wasn't for nothing. "American Sniper" earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture and a best-actor nod for Cooper.

The Clint Eastwood-directed film has broken box-office records, earning over $154 million worldwide on a $58.8 million production budget.

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MORE: The Incredible And Tragic Story Of The Real-Life 'American Sniper'

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The highly anticipated "Wet Hot American Summer" miniseries is definitely happening. Further proof: the teaser trailer below.

The short teaser confirms that the original cast from the 2001 cult hit will be returning. Some of the big names include Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, Bradley Cooper, Molly Shannon, Janeane Garofalo, and David Hyde Pierce. David Wain returns as director.

The 2001 comedy followed counselors at a sleepaway camp in 1981.

The eight-episode miniseries will premiere this summer.

SEE ALSO: 'Wet Hot American Summer' Miniseries Coming To Netflix With Original Cast

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Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" is breaking box-office records and garnering critical acclaim with six Oscar nominations, but many are questioning the accuracy of the film, which is based on former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's best-selling memoir of the same title.

While some argue that Kyle, who was shot and killed in 2013 by a Marine veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, may have embellished battle scenes, his widow says their relationship was just as special and loving in real life as it appeared on screen.

Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller played Chris and Taya Kyle in "American Sniper":

The real Chris and Taya Kyle:

Taya Kyle told People magazine in early January: "I was madly in love with him and still am."

Taya, now 40, adds: "I miss him so much. I loved being in his arms. I loved holding his hand. But what I miss most about Chris is the feeling when he was in the room. He just changed the feeling whenever he walked in. I missed him even when he was just gone from the room."

But as seen in the film, the couple's relationship went through a few rough patches as Chris spent long stretches away from his wife and two young children while serving four tours in Iraq.

In 2009, to save his marriage, Chris quit the military to make his wife and children his priority.

"My relationship with him, from the beginning, was just very real. Very real, deep, passionate love. We went through some really hard times, but we found our way back to each other every time," a choked up Taya told Fox News in December. "I'll never have anything like that again, and I'm OK with that because it was special and it deserves to be set in a different category."

Taya clarified the truth behind a few key scenes between her and Kyle in the film.

WARNING: SPOILERS

1. In the movie, Taya and Kyle meet in a bar. The two take shots, and Taya becomes so drunk that she ends up getting sick. Kyle holds her hair back as she vomits.

Taya tells Fox News the story is, unfortunately pretty, close to the truth: "Yes, although I will say it wasn't shots; I think I was drinking scotch on the rocks. And then yes I did vomit, and then yes he did hold my hair back."

2. In the movie, Kyle's wedding was interrupted by news that the US would go to war following 9/11.

In reality, the couple decided to get married because Chris was about to be deployed and had only a few days of leave amid military training.

 3. In one scene, Taya calls Chris, who is in Iraq, to tell him the sex of their unborn child. When a firefight breaks out, Chris drops his phone to shoot and Taya is left on the line to hear the entire ordeal, not knowing whether her husband is dead or alive.

According to Slate: "Kyle once dropped his phone during a firefight and she was forced to hear the whole thing — but not when she was revealing the sex of her baby, as in the film."

4. In the movie, Chris eventually decides to quit the military essentially because he is depressed after seeing so much death.

According to his memoir, Chris told Taya he would not reenlist because their marriage was nearing divorce.

5. At the end of the movie, Taya pulls Chris aside on the morning before his unexpected death (Chris was shot by a veteran he was trying to help) and has a long chat with him about how grateful she is that he returned home and what an amazing father he had become.

According to Slate: "This is not in Kyle's memoir, for obvious reasons, but screenwriter Jason Hall writes in an addendum to the new edition of the book that Taya told him she had this conversation with Kyle a month before his death."

When Chris was killed, he had been in the process of adapting his best-selling memoir into the film that it became. At the time, Bradley Cooper was attached to produce and star as Chris, who wished to have Eastwood direct the movie.

When Eastwood eventually signed on, after Chris' death, Taya tells People magazine the 84-year-old director "was a little choked up. He said, 'I just want you to know that your story has my heart.'"

"I feel like they all have this huge heart for Chris," Taya added. "I really feel like they truly love him and understand him."

When Taya first met actress Sienna Miller — who would be playing her in the film — she says that after just a few sentences, "I was like, 'This is good.' We just connected. It's been a tremendous blessing."

"They spent a lot of time absorbing the details and getting them right in the movie," Taya told Fox News. "Chris would be far too humble to say any of his good qualities, he was very self-deprecating in his humor, and for me to have the ability to tell them what I loved was a beautiful thing."

Through tears, Taya told Fox that she still felt her husband's presence every day:

I do in a lot of ways feel like I still have that relationship, and it still grows because of what I learn and what I experience, and how I can more deeply appreciate what he was going through and I wish that had know more at the time, as people often do. But I also know that he knows the best I could and he was doing the best he could.

We started our lives and we went through war, child birth, happiness, joking through the hard times, and he really changed me into somebody much, much better, and I'm so grateful to him. I carry him with me, I feel him with me all the time and that's a pretty special thing.

Watch Taya's full interview on Fox News below:

"American Sniper" is nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture, adapted screenplay, and best actor for Cooper.

Taya, meanwhile, has founded the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation to help enrich the relationships of military and first responders' families.

Even though Chris was killed almost two years ago, Taya told People: "He had so much energy in life. There are some people who probably go to heaven and chill and just check in once in a while, but Chris is probably like, 'I'm watching my people!'

"I will miss him every single day of my life."

SEE ALSO: The incredible and tragic story of the real-life 'American Sniper'

MORE: Here's the intense training Bradley Cooper went through to gain 40 pounds of muscle for 'American Sniper'

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Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in US military history, is the subject of the recently Oscar-nominated film "American Sniper." The real Kyle's life ended tragically when he was shot dead at a shooting range in the US.

The man accused of the killing, Eddie Ray Routh, will stand trial, and jury selection is ongoing. The court initially summoned about 800 people, which it must dwindle down to 12.

Produced by Jason Gaines. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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The sensational box-office run of “American Sniper” hit its peak this week with news the bio pic of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle is now the highest-grossing US film of last year with $337.4 million. 

Not bad for a film with a budget just under $60 million. 

To put the success of "American Sniper" in perspective: the film made more than "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" ($337 million),  "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($333 million), and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($259.8 million) stateside.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper as Kyle, the film garnered six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (it would win only for Best Sound Editing), but its true success was its surprising box-office take, even though it received mixed reactions by the critics.

But it seems Eastwood films are impervious to criticism.

Counting “American Sniper,” Eastwood has directed six movies for Warner Bros. and all of them easily made their money back (only “Hereafter” and “Invictus” needed overseas grosses to get them in the black), thanks to Eastwood’s modest budgets for his films that usually range between $30 million - $60 million.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Eastwood’s lightening-quick shooting and bare-bones style of filmmaking, the “American Sniper” script would likely still be on the shelf. Steven Spielberg was originally supposed to helm the project after "Lincoln," but in the summer of 2013 he backed out, reportedly due to Warner Bros.' insistence that it only be a $60 million picture. A week later, Warner Bros. called Eastwood and the rest is history.

But the success of “American Sniper” also is a textbook example of great marketing and good timing.

The film only opened on four screens on Christmas Day, making it eligible for Oscar consideration, and grossed just over $633,000.

But then the Warner Bros. marketing team kicked in.

Retelling Kyle’s story, powerful ads and trailers of Cooper conflicted over his responsibility on the battlefield and the pull from his family back home. The Oscar buzz began, along with pieces questioning the accuracy of the film. The pump was primed and by the time the film went wide over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, it became the highest January opening ever with over $90 million. 

From there, the film’s grosses soared and so did the country’s interest.

Kyle’s wife began doing press leading up to the Oscars, and though the film didn’t do well during awards season, the trial for Kyle’s killer — Eddie Ray Routh, an Iraqi war veteran who shot Kyle and his friend in the back while the two brought him to a shooting range in 2013 —  was already underway. It quickly became dubbed the “American Sniper” trail, and was the final jolt for a film that had now fully gripped a nation.

While “American Sniper” topped every movie in 2014, the most fascinating stat may be that Eastwood’s film is the first drama/non-franchise title to be the highest grossing of the year since 1998’s "Saving Private Ryan." In doing so it passes Steven Spielberg’s war epic as the highest-grossing war movie of all time.

Think Spielberg’s regretting passing on “Sniper” now? 

SEE ALSO: A Marine sharpshooter explains why american snipers are not cowards

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If you produced a movie featuring the two hottest movie stars in the world, with an Oscar-winning director and a script based on a beloved best-selling novel, you might assume you'd end up with a massive hit, right? Or at least a movie that everyone was scrambling to get a piece of? But what if that didn't happen, and you ended up with pretty much the opposite of that? What if you ended up with "Serena"?

"Serena" stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, whom you may remember from such little-seen collaborations as "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle," films for which Cooper earned a total of two Oscar nominations and Lawrence earned an Oscar nomination and an Oscar win. 

"Serena" is directed by Susanne Bier, whose previous film, "In a Better World," won both a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 2011, both for best foreign language film. The script for "Serena" is based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Ron Rash, which was a New York Times best-seller and earned great reviews. Yet despite this impressive assemblage of talent, there is a good chance you have never even heard of "Serena," which, by the way, you could be watching on video on demand right now. That's right — a movie starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, released in 2015, went, in that antiquated parlance, straight to video.

Spoiler: "Serena" is not an interesting or particularly enjoyable movie, and I cannot in good conscience recommend that you watch it. But it is a useful object lesson in moviemaking in the 21st century — and an improbable tale of how something can go terribly wrong even when everything seems to be going wonderfully right.

Set during the Depression in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, "Serena" is the tale of an ambitious timber baron named George Pemberton (Cooper), his troubled and ruthless rise to power, and his even more troubled and ruthless marriage to a difficult and remarkable woman named Serena (Lawrence), who emerges as a kind of backwoods Lady Macbeth. You can easily imagine the elevator pitch: It's "Winter's Bone" meets "There Will Be Blood," with a dash of "Cold Mountain" and meaty dramatic roles for both leads. Sounds good, right? Who wouldn't green-light that?

The film was initially budgeted at a not-inconsiderable $25 million to $30 million, so Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment teamed with Studiocanal to cofinance the project — in exactly the kind of arrangement that's increasingly responsible for mid-level films. (See, for example, action films like "Taken" or prestige coproductions like "The Imitation Game.")

To take advantage of tax incentives, the film was shot in the Czech Republic, which passes here for North Carolina, barely. Darren Aronofsky was initially attached to direct and Angelina Jolie was supposed to star, but both eventually fell out, so the producers tapped Bier as their new director and Lawrence as their new star.

The timing of the latter choice would turn out to be incredibly fortuitous. 2012 was a great year for Lawrence, who starred in both "The Hunger Games" and "Silver Linings Playbook" — basically, it was the year she went from Jennifer Lawrence, promising ingénue and surprise Oscar-nominee for "Winter's Bone," to Jennifer Lawrence, heir apparent to the kingdom of Hollywood.

2012, not coincidentally, was also a great year for Cooper, not least because of "Silver Linings Playbook," which freed him from his association with expertly executed douchebag roles ("The Hangover,""The A-Team") and set him on the path to becoming Hollywood's leading man of choice — a position he significantly solidified this year with "American Sniper." So it must have seemed like a great stroke of good fortune when Lawrence persuaded Cooper to join her, as the male lead in "Serena." If you could travel back in time and tell the film's producers that their two leads were about to amass four Oscar nominations, billions in box-office receipts, and countless headlines between them, those producers no doubt would have danced a jig.

No one's jigging now. Both Cooper and Lawrence are good in "Serena" and are, for the most part, blameless for its deficiencies. The movie itself, however, is a mess — not a "Heaven's Gate" level of messiness, but a brand of messiness that's even more intriguing by being less obviously messy.

After wrapping the filming in 2012, Bier took 18 more months in post-production to complete a cut of the film. One Hollywood Reporter source suggested this delay was due in part to her feeling tremendous pressure in light of the critical success of "Silver Linings Playbook," which "Serena" would be following up — or, at least, that was the plan. Instead the movie languished, then went notoriously AWOL. It didn't hit the festival circuit until late 2014, premiering with a conspicuous lack of excitement at the London Film Festival.

The film subsequently bombed in the UK. It has been met with generally tepid reviews everywhere — Variety's Guy Lodge memorably wrote that it "boasts neither a narrative impetus nor a perceptible objective"— and it had a lot of trouble attracting a US distributor. This might be a good time to remind you: This is a movie that stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.

CAA, which represents Cooper, Lawrence, Bier, and the film, continued to screen it for American distributors. Unpromisingly, Bier screened three different cuts to distributors on three different occasions, essentially letting them take their pick. Even more unpromisingly, they all passed.

One buyer told The Hollywood Reporter after a screening that the movie "made no sense." Others apparently avoided it precisely because of a fear that, in light of the subsequent high-wattage collaborations between the film's stars, "Serena" would seem especially drab. In the end, Magnolia, which is the sister company to 2929 Productions, agreed to distribute it Stateside. The film would get its US release, but there would be no late-season Oscar campaign, no award consideration, and precious little fanfare. In fact, it was quietly, even stealthily, slipped into video on demand and iTunes on February 26, well in advance of its limited theatrical release on March 27.

So is "Serena" that bad? In a way, it's not bad enough. "Serena" is not only a film about a bygone era, but it feels like a film from a bygone era — an era when when you might have stumbled on "Serena" as the ABC Sunday Night Movie, watched it because of the stars, then fallen asleep contentedly halfway through. Some of its flaws are obvious: Bier has no feel for the Smoky Mountains, or the Depression, or, really, America, and the story doesn't flow with any particular coherence, let alone momentum.

Other flaws are harder to pin down. The tone is distressingly subdued for a film that's ostensibly about rapacious ambition run amok. The script never really decides whether Serena is a calculating cutthroat or a winsome woodland foundling. (Or neither. Or both!) Still, each star has his and her moments. The costumes are nice. Rhys Ifans (!) has a creepy turn as an omniscient and amoral mountain-man killer that, had it come enfolded in a much better movie, might have drawn some attention. Instead, it's smothered in this movie and thus, like the movie itself, it earned no attention at all.

Most of all, "Serena" is interesting because it's a much more rare artifact than a really bad movie: It's an incompetent movie. Unlike more famous movie disasters, it plays out not like the product of one unchecked monstrous ego but of a thousand tiny decisions gone wrong. The editing is incompetent. The pacing is incompetent. The scenes don't logically flow from one to the next. The soundtrack sounds as if it were generated by a computer-soundtrack algorithm set to "mournful fiddle.""Serena" is a bracing reminder of how much expertise goes into making even the most uninspired movie — how dozens of people with wildly different skill sets all have to perform well or the whole project is imperiled.

The stars may be the ones with their names plastered over the title, but if you're Jennifer Lawrence, trapped in "Serena" like Rapunzel in her tower dungeon, your powers of self-salvation are limited. You can't reedit the film or rescore its music or rescout its locations.

In the end, the lesson of "Serena" isn't how remarkable it is when a movie like this goes badly, but how improbable it is that any movie at all turns out to be good. 

Watch the trailer for "Serena" below:

SEE ALSO: How Bradley Cooper gained weight for 'American Sniper'

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CBS just released the first trailer for "Limitless," its series based on the 2011 film starring Bradley Cooper.

The TV series stars Jake McDorman as Brian Finch, who discovers that a mysterious drug called NZT can give him access to 100% of his brain function. This causes him to remember everything he has ever experienced, read, watched or heard.

When news of his genius reaches the FBI, they decide that his newfound brain power could be used to solve their most complex cases.

The series also stars "Dexter" star Jennifer Carpenter and "Covert Affairs" alum Hill Harper as the FBI agents working with Finch.

Cooper, who also serves as an executive producer on the series, figures prominently in the new trailer. He reprises his role of Edward Mora, who's now a presidential hopeful and regular user of NZT. The FBI has no idea that he has plans of his own for his new protégé.

The show will air this fall on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. CBS has yet to announce an exact premiere date.

Watch the trailer below.

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Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper might be coming to a dating app near you!

Costars from upcoming film "Aloha," Cooper and Stone are happy to let you know that their chemistry is alive and well, on and off-screen.

So alive, in fact, that the duo has offered to write Tinder profiles for each other. Both stars seem particularly taken with the other's eyes, reports Perez Hilton.

Here's what Cooper had to say about Stone. Imagine swiping right and left a few times before coming across this:

"[Her] reptilian eyes take you into a kind place, soft and lovely and full of grace."

Similarly, Stone followed up with her own take about Cooper:

"Look at those blue [eyes]. He's into Chinese food, but he's equally into making you smile."

While neither of the actors are on Tinder yet (unlike some Hollywood stars like Hilary Duff), Stone admits to having used the app for one of her friends. "My friend is [on Tinder], and I've swiped for her. That was a good time." said Stone. 

We can only hope that both Cooper and Stone will download the app soon, giving the rest of us a chance to gaze longingly into their eyes and swipe right.   

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On the heels of his Oscar-nominated performance as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in last year’s hit, “American Sniper,” Bradley Cooper looks to be returning to the war-drama genre.

Deadline reports that 22 & Green, Cooper and his "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' production company, has teamed with Warner Bros. to adapt the book “The Ghost Army Of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived The Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, And Other Audacious Fakery.”

The book title kind of says it all.

In World War II, the US Army recruited artists to make up the secret 23rd Headquarters Special Troops with the mission to fool the Nazis in thinking the US Army was larger than it actually was.

They would become known as the “Ghost Army.”

To pull this off the unit created inflatable tanks and rubber airplanes and delivered phony radio messages to make Nazi forces think there were US forces in the area (when, in fact, they were not). 

Ghost Army members who went on to have glowing careers in the arts included painter/sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, wildlife artist Arthur B. Singer, and fashion designer Bill Blass. 

The film will also use the 2013 documentary “Ghost Army” (directed by coauthor of "The Ghost Army" book, Rick Beyer) as resource material.

There’s no word yet if Cooper will also star in the film.

See the elaborate creations made by the Ghost Army in this trailer for the doc below:

SEE ALSO: Bradley Cooper's movie "Limitless" is getting turned into a TV show — Here's the first trailer

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Like the rest of your wardrobe, suiting is seasonal. In the summer you’ll want to swap out heavy wool-blend fabrics and dark colors, focusing, instead, on breathable materials, lighter cuts, and softer hues. This way, you can attend formal events without breaking into a sweat.

Hollywood stylist Ilaria Urbinati is a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Urbinati is the woman responsible for making celebrities, like Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, and Ben Affleck, look red-carpet ready. Her summer-suiting mantra boils down to one golden rule: keep everything comfortable.

Below, she's sharing recommendations on blazers, trousers, shoes, and more that'll keep you calm and collected — even when the sun is beating down on your sports coat. As an added bonus: We paired her fashion know-how with products for you to shop.  

1. Blazers 

Sports coats made of heavier materials and darker fabrics keep heat insulated. Instead, Urbinati styles her clients in unlined blazers, which are lighter and more breathable on the body. Opt for jackets in softer colors, like tan, khaki, navy, or slate gray. Playful plaids, pastels, seersuckers, and other prints aren't out of the question either.

Products to try: 
Billy Reid Lexington Two-Button Blazer, $625, available at Nordstrom.

Banana Republic Modern Slim-Fit Soft-Wash Striped Blazer, $175, available at Banana Republic.

Kenneth Cole Two-Button Blazer, $135.99, available at Amazon.

2. Trousers 

If you’re attending a wedding (or five) this summer, then chinos are an excellent substitute for traditional, wool dress pants. They look plenty polished and, like unlined blazers, offer more breathability in warmer temperatures. Urbinati’s pro tip: "You can hem them shorter or roll them up for an on-trend finish."

Products to try:
Reiss Tullum Twill Chinos, $142, available at Reiss. 

AG The Wanderer Slim-Fit Linen Pant, $138, available at Amazon. 

Wallin & Bros. Flat Front Cotton & Linen Trousers, $72.49, available at Nordstrom. 

3. Two-Piece Suits 

"Every guy should have a khaki cotton suit in his closet for summer," according to Urbinati. "You can wear it to weddings, formal daytime events, alfresco dinner dates — the sky’s the limit." As an added bonus: Its lighter color palette and fabric won't trap in heat from the sun's intense rays. 

For a recent event, the stylist dressed Bradley Cooper in an three-piece, off-white cotton suit from Dolce & Gabanna. "Linen and cotton are ideal fabrics for summer; they're relaxed and still look good even if they get a little wrinkled," she adds.

Products to try:
Bonobos The Foundationa Cotton Suit, $450, available at Bonobos.

ASOS Slim Navy Suit, $226.53, available at ASOS. 

Calvin Klein Malik 10 Suit, $299.99, available at Amazon.

4. Polo Shirts 

"Swapping your standard long-sleeve button-downs for polo shirts will prove exponentially more comfortable; they have more stretch and an overall softer feel," Urbinati explains. Avoid blaring brand logos and they’ll look just as sharp as your go-to oxfords. 

Products to try:
Theory Boyd Census Polo Shirt, $95, available at Amazon.

Kenneth Cole Men's Acid Washed Polo Shirt, $49, available at Amazon.

Carhartt WIP Polo Shirt, $75, available at East Dane.

5. Dress Shoes 

"Opt for lighter tans and browns in lieu of blacks, which can look quite harsh for the season," suggests the stylist. "Remember, too, that you can get away without wearing socks in the summer." Anything in the name of letting your toes breathe, right?

Products to try:
Cole Haan Lenox Hill Casual Wingtip, $129.90, available at Amazon and Nordstrom.

BOSS Hugo Boss Men's Counno Oxford, $595, available at Amazon.

Aldo Gottolo Oxford, $130, available at Amazon.

6. Men's Accessories 

This season’s most popular men’s accessories include funky pocket squares, canvas watches, and skinny belts. "I have a big rule about no belts with suits because they tend to look bulky. But, in the summer I make an exception. I think it's nice to put a skinny, tan leather belt with a suit or just a chino; it adds a summery pop of color."

Products to try:
Rag & Bone Skinny Dress Belt, $150, available at East Dane.

Timex X J.Crew Vintage Army Steel Watch, $150, available at Mr Porter. 

The Hill Side Endo Leaves Pocket Square, $35, available at Need Supply. 

READ THIS: 14 dapper watches for every budget

SEE ALSO: 10 pairs of socks that'll lighten up your serious suit and tie

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On the heels of his Oscar-nominated performance as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in last year’s hit, “American Sniper,” Bradley Cooper looks to be returning to the war-drama genre.

Deadline reports that 22 & Green, Cooper and his "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' production company, has teamed with Warner Bros. to adapt the book “The Ghost Army Of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived The Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, And Other Audacious Fakery.”

The book title kind of says it all.

In World War II, the US Army recruited artists to make up the secret 23rd Headquarters Special Troops with the mission to fool the Nazis in thinking the US Army was larger than it actually was.

They would become known as the “Ghost Army.”

To pull this off the unit created inflatable tanks and rubber airplanes and delivered phony radio messages to make Nazi forces think there were US forces in the area (when, in fact, they were not). 

Ghost Army members who went on to have glowing careers in the arts included painter/sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, wildlife artist Arthur B. Singer, and fashion designer Bill Blass. 

The film will also use the 2013 documentary “Ghost Army” (directed by coauthor of "The Ghost Army" book, Rick Beyer) as resource material.

There’s no word yet if Cooper will also star in the film.

See the elaborate creations made by the Ghost Army in this trailer for the doc below:

SEE ALSO: Bradley Cooper's movie "Limitless" is getting turned into a TV show — Here's the first trailer

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Bradley Cooper has costarred with Jennifer Lawrence in multiple films, such as "Silver Lining Playbook" and "American Hustle."

In "American Hustle," Cooper was able to negotiate a higher salary than Lawrence, raking in 9% of proceeds from the film versus her 7%, according to an email leaked during the cyber attack on Sony Entertainment.

Lawrence wrote an essay about the wage disparity between men and women in Hollywood.

"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself," Lawrence wrote. "I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need."

Lawrence wondered if her struggle to negotiate a higher salary with the studios was because she was young, because of her personality and desire to be liked, or because she was a woman.

Cooper commented on Lawrence's essay before he had a chance to read it while doing press for his new movie, "Burnt." The actor told E! News, "If you think that you only deserve a certain amount and that's not correct, it's about changing that mindset and sticking up for yourself the way that [Burnt co-star] Sienna [Miller] did."

Miller told the outlet that she once turned down a role in a play because she was only being offered half of her male costar's salary.

Cooper also acknowledged that there is a double standard in terms of pay in Hollywood and encouraged women like Lawrence and Miller to speak out about it to help spark change.

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After applauding Jennifer Lawrence's essay about wage disparity between men and women in Hollywood that she wrote for Lena Dunham's newsletter Lenny, Bradley Cooper says he wants to begin teaming up with his female costars to negotiate salaries before any film he's interested in doing goes into production.

"I don't know where it's changing otherwise," Cooper told Reuters of the Hollywood gender pay gap. "But that's something that I could do."

Cooper and Lawrence have starred together in numerous films, but following the Sony hack it was reveled that for their last film, "American Hustle," Cooper was able to negotiate a higher salary than Lawrence was.

"This could be a young-person thing. It could be a personality thing. I'm sure it's both. But ... based on the statistics, I don't think I'm the only woman with this issue," Lawrence wrote in her essay. "Are we socially conditioned to behave this way? ... Could there still be a lingering habit of trying to express our opinions in a certain way that doesn't 'offend' or 'scare' men?"

Lawrence said in her essay that the emails that surfaced thanks to the Sony hack made her realize how less she gets paid than her male costars.

Cooper told Reuters that he was shocked to learn what he and Lawrence's "American Hustle" costar Amy Adams earned for the film. He called it "embarrassing" and noted that she got paid "nothing."

So Cooper believes the only way to end the gender pay gap is for he and his peers to start a dialogue.

"Usually you don't talk about the financial stuff, you have people," he told Reuters. "But you know what? It's time to start doing that."

Read Lawrence's complete essay.

SEE ALSO: How Jennifer Lawrence went from obscurity to the highest-paid female actress in the world in 5 years

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Jennifer Lawrence recently penned a hotly-discussed essay about the wage disparity in Hollywood.

The essay, which was published in Lena Dunham's newsletter, Lenny, noted that the actress was paid significantly less than her male co-stars in the movie "American Hustle."  So was her co-star Amy Adams.

Fellow female stars like Jessica Chastain and Rooney Mara have since said they've been paid less than male co-stars too, and Sienna Miller said she turned down a role in a play that was offering significantly less than the male lead was given. 

Bradley Cooper, who starred in "American Hustle" with Lawrence and Adams in 2013 and negotiated a higher contract than them, was so taken aback by Lawrence's essay that he told Reuters he wants to begin teaming up with his female co-stars to negotiate fair salaries together before committing to a film. 

But not every actor is planning to go as far as Cooper.

Business Insider asked Jeremy Renner, who also starred in "American Hustle," if he would also be willing to negotiate alongside his female co-stars on future projects. He also was paid more than Adams and Lawrence for his role in the film, according to a Sony email leaked during the hack on the company.

"That's not my job," Renner said, while taking part in an intimate press day on Tuesday for the new "One Life/Live Them" campaign he's doing for Rémy Martin Cognac.

"I don't know contracts and money and all that sort of stuff," Renner went on to say.

Adding he fully supports actresses receiving equal pay as actors, he said he's more focused on his craft than what everyone is making.

"I'm a performer and I know human behavior. When it comes to that sort of stuff I let other people deal with that," said the two-time Oscar nominee. "I do what I'm good at, that's what I focus on."

It should be noted that actors and actresses are rarely involved in the negotiating process and leave the deals to agents, managers, and lawyers.

This is evident, as most of the actresses who have spoken out recently about the wage disparity issue have noted that they only learned about how much more their male actors were paid long after they worked on the film.

Cooper also told Reuters, "Usually you don't talk about the financial stuff, you have people."

Lawrence, who Forbes named 2015's world's highest-paid actress with $52 million (Robert Downey Jr. was the highest-paid actor in 2015 with $80 million), said in her essay that she learned how much Cooper, Renner, and the other male actors made on "American Hustle" through the emails leaked following the Sony hack. And that she wasn't mad at Sony, which released the film, but herself for giving up too early in the negotiation process.

"But if I’m honest with myself," she went on to write in the essay, "I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn’t want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled.' At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled.'"

Read Lawrence's complete essay.

SEE ALSO: Jennifer Lawrence writes an essay on why she gets paid less than her male co-stars

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After starring in director David O. Russell's "Silver Lining Playbook" and "American Hustle," actors Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro (he had a very brief cameo in "American Hustle"), and Bradley Cooper have reteamed once more for the director's latest film, "Joy."

The film follows a family over four generations with the main focus on Joy (Lawrence), who single-handedly builds a business dynasty while dealing with a lot of drama from the men in her life: her father (De Niro), ex-husband (Édgar Ramírez), and a TV executive (Cooper).

"Joy" opens in theaters on Christmas Day.

Watch the trailer:

SEE ALSO: Jennifer Lawrence hit on a disturbing workplace trend in her recent open letter

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From Pepsi and Bubble Yum commercials to failed sitcoms and small guest roles, A-list celebrities were once struggling trying to make it in the business, just like everyone else in Hollywood, before they started getting award-winning roles.

Samuel L. Jackson didn't jump right into Tarantino movies. He was trained and started on stage. Johnny Depp was pursuing a music career before he got into acting, and Kerry Washington was popping up in educational videos before dominating in "Scandal."

We took a look back at 15 A-list celebrities before they were the recognizable names we know today. 

SEE ALSO: The most famous people at every moment over the past decade

Jennifer Lawrence

Before Jennifer Lawrence became an Academy Award-winning actress and franchise star, she started out modeling and acting in small commercials. She earned her Screen Actors Guild card when she was 14 thanks to a promotional video for MTV's "My Super Sweet 16." 

That same year, she also appeared in a Burger King video as a potential girlfriend to the Whopper Jr. 

Bradley Cooper

The four-time Oscar nominee made his TV debut with a guest spot on season two of "Sex and the City." He picks Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) up at a bar and the two briefly make out in a car, but Carrie leaves after he returns with her New York magazine cover story. 

Watch the episode at HBO or catch the clip on YouTube. 

Kerry Washington

Washington earned her SAG card after starring in "Magical Make-Over," an "ABC Afterschool Special." She told E! that she was a cheerleader in the episode, though she was only 80% sure. 

Her next role was in the PBS educational series, "Standard Deviants." You can spot her in the following clip at 5:45.

There are a couple things we know about director David O. Russell. He's fueled by dysfunction, and, more recently, the talents of Jennifer Lawrence.

Dysfunction has been in his storytelling (likely) all his life. Sometimes his stories have been hits ("Flirting with Disaster") and other times misses ("I Heart Huckabees"). But now with the addition of Lawrence, even if he's off the mark, the effort is still a worthwhile experience.

"Joy" is not Russell at his finest. But teaming with Lawrence for the third consecutive time (previously "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle"), he gives the story completely over to his lead's abilities — and it saves the movie.

Lawrence plays the real-life Joy Mangano, a divorcee who still lives with her ex (Édgar Ramírez) and their two kids, along with her mother (Virginia Madsen), grandmother (Diane Ladd), and father (Robert De Niro). Barely able to make ends meet, she's also faced with solving the problems of everyone under her roof.

Always inventing things since she was a child, Joy grabs onto that million-dollar idea every inventor dreams of. While mopping up broken glass and cutting up her hands wringing it out, she comes up with the revolutionary "Miracle Mop." It would become one of the biggest hits on the newly created QVC channel (run by Neil, played matter-of-factly by Bradley Cooper).

Family turmoil continues, Joy gets hustled by her manufacturer, and basically Joy can't catch a break until she fights back, and that's when Lawrence shines.

From insisting on wearing a casual white blouse and slacks on QVC (instead of a dress) to a Michael Corleone-like showdown with her half-sister, Lawrence plays Joy as a headstrong woman who has vowed not to end up like her mother, watching soap operas all day in bed.

"Joy" is not a true biopic, as once Russell got involved in the project he reworked the script heavily and combined many female entrepreneur rags-to-riches stories into his Joy. But that's standard operating procedure for Russell.

Though the cast is great on paper and Russell has been successful with recent ensembles, outside of some strong scenes between Lawrence and De Niro, there are few highlights for the whole group.

Then again, this was always Lawrence's show. "Joy" is as much a movie about the actress standing her ground in the Hollywood system that regards women as second-class as it is a look at a female entrepreneur taking on the world.

"Joy" opens in theaters everywhere on Christmas Day.

SEE ALSO: Meet Jennifer Lawrence's small but powerful squad that's taking over Hollywood

Join the conversation about this story »

From Pepsi and Bubble Yum commercials to failed sitcoms and small guest roles, A-list celebrities were once struggling trying to make it in the business, just like everyone else in Hollywood, before they started getting award-winning roles.

Samuel L. Jackson didn't jump right into Tarantino movies. He was trained and started on stage. Johnny Depp was pursuing a music career before he got into acting, and Kerry Washington was popping up in educational videos before dominating in "Scandal."

We took a look back at 16 A-list celebrities before they were the recognizable names we know today. 

SEE ALSO: The most famous people at every moment over the past decade

Jennifer Lawrence

Before Jennifer Lawrence became an Academy Award-winning actress and franchise star, she started out modeling and acting in small commercials. She earned her Screen Actors Guild card when she was 14 thanks to a promotional video for MTV's "My Super Sweet 16." 

That same year, she also appeared in a Burger King video as a potential girlfriend to the Whopper Jr. 

Bradley Cooper

The four-time Oscar nominee made his TV debut with a guest spot on season two of "Sex and the City." He picks Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) up at a bar and the two briefly make out in a car, but Carrie leaves after he returns with her New York magazine cover story. 

Watch the episode at HBO or catch the clip on YouTube. 

Kerry Washington

Washington earned her SAG card after starring in "Magical Make-Over," an "ABC Afterschool Special." She told E! that she was a cheerleader in the episode, though she was only 80% sure. 

Her next role was in the PBS educational series, "Standard Deviants." You can spot her in the following clip at 5:45.

One of the reasons that celebrity trainer Jason Walsh — who runs the L.A.-based Rise Movement and helped John Krasinski become ripped for "13 Hours"— is so successful is because he avoids workout fads, claiming that they don't actually do anything.

According to him, there's only one thing that actually works...

Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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Amy Adams earned her fifth Oscar nomination for her work in David O. Russell's "American Hustle," but working on the film was tough.

In an interview with British GQ, the actress said the director made her cry — though the quotes pulled out from the interview don't go into specific detail— and she described her mood during shooting as "devastated."

“I was really just devastated on set," she said. "I mean, not every day, but most. Jennifer [Lawrence] doesn’t take any of it on. She’s Teflon. And I am not Teflon."

She added: "Life to me is more important than movies. It really taught me how to separate work and home. Because I was like, I cannot bring this experience home with me to my daughter.”

Adams also opened up about the gender wage gap debate in Hollywood, something her "Hustle" costars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper have been vocal about.

Lawrence penned an essay in Lena Dunham's newsletter Lenny in October 2015 about the pay gap after learning about the disparity between her and her male "American Hustle" costars following the Sony hack. Cooper responded and said he would give his salary information to female costars to help them negotiate before films go into production.

Adams told British GQ that she was aware of the pay gap, but has her own way of negotiating. 

“I didn’t speak about it before and I’m probably not going to speak about it forever, because I disagreed with... not Jennifer per se, but people who had opinions on how women should go about negotiating," she said. "The truth is we hire people to negotiate on our behalf, men and women... I knew I was being paid less and I still agreed to do it because the option comes down to do it or don’t do it. So you just have to decide if it’s worth it for you. It doesn’t mean I liked it.”

The actress said she was "proud" of the letter Lawrence wrote, though. 

"What I liked is that it was not necessarily about getting paid, or not getting paid... It’s like we [women] have been conditioned to not be controversial, to not cause problems," she said. "It’s about finding your voice.”

SEE ALSO: Hollywood's top divorce lawyer explains how A-list celebrities keep their breakups secret

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