Limitless (2011)
- To accurately portray their role in Limitless, Bradley Cooper spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Neil Burger.
- Limitless utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by Neil Burger.
Limitless is a 2011 American science fiction thriller directed by Neil Burger and starring Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra, a struggling, blocked writer in New York City who discovers NZT-48, a mysterious designer drug that allows him to access 100 percent of his brain's capacity. Under NZT's influence, Eddie transforms from a disheveled failure into a superhuman intellect โ learning languages in hours, writing a novel in four days, and making millions on Wall Street through pattern recognition that borders on precognition. As Eddie's meteoric rise attracts the attention of powerful financier Carl Van Loon, played by Robert De Niro, and a dangerous Russian loan shark, the drug's severe withdrawal effects and diminishing supply threaten to destroy everything he has built.
Limitless was the film that established Bradley Cooper as a leading man, showcasing the charisma and intensity that would carry his career through Silver Linings Playbook, American Sniper, and A Star Is Born. Director Neil Burger created a clever visual language for the drug's effects, using shifting color saturation, infinite zoom shots through Manhattan streets, and a fractured editing style that made the audience feel Eddie's enhanced perception. The film's central question โ would you take a pill that made you the best version of yourself, knowing it might kill you? โ was an irresistible premise.
Limitless earned $161 million worldwide on a $27 million budget.
