Bradley Cooper Reveals Daughter’s Surprising Connection to New Movie

Bradley Cooper is revealing his daughter’s surprising connection to his new movie.

Cooper, 50, appeared at the the New York Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 10 to debut Is This Thing On?, his third film as a writer and director. When Cooper sat down with costars Laura Dern, Will Arnett, Andra Day and Christine Ebersole for a press conference following the screening, he was quick to point out that his 8-year-old daughter Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper’s real-life school in New York City’s West Village gave him inspiration for the film.

“It’s like life will tell you what to do,” Cooper said while explaining the genesis of his film. “I was sitting there and it was the Chinese New Year festival and that exact group was there and I remember I was blown away. I was looking at all these parents just on their phone and I was like, ‘Oh, this is the beginning of the movie.’ And I called [Arnett.]”

Is This Thing On? follows Alex (Arnett, 55) and Tess (Dern, 58), the parents of two young sons in the midst of their sudden separation.

“Bradley said it should start with this Chinese lion dance at the start,” Arnett recalled of their phone conversation. “And I was like, ‘What?’ He sent me a video, and I was like ‘Why are you sending me this video?’ ‘This is the beginning of the movie,’ he said.”

Cooper shares his daughter Lea De Seine with ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk, with whom he was in a relationship between 2015 and 2019. (Cooper has been dating Gigi Hadid since 2023.)

Cooper said at the New York Film Festival that he wanted to “authentically share my experience of New York” with his new movie, so much so that he also cast his dogs Charlie and Lucy as the family’s pets in the movie. (Charlie previously appeared in Cooper’s first directorial effort, 2018’s A Star Is Born.)

“My dogs are incredible, thank you,” Cooper said during the press conference. “I’ll tell them when I get home that you guys gave a shout out to Charlie and Lucy.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Searchlight Pictures unveiled the first trailer for Is This Thing On?  back in August. “As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene, while Tess (Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family — forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity and whether love can take a new form,” reads a synopsis for the movie.

The movie is Cooper’s third as a writer and director following A Star Is Born and 2023’s Maestro. Sean Hayes and his husband Scott Icenogle, Peyton Manning and Amy Sedaris also costar in the film.

Following the world premiere of Is This Thing On? at the New York Film Festival, the movie releases in select theaters Dec. 19.