In Limitless, Bradley Cooper plays a struggling author who takes a magical test drug — NZT! We’re sad you never caught on as a reference — and suddenly becomes the world’s greatest writer (and day trader, and many other things). This is one fictional way to fix a writer’s block. The other, as Bradley Cooper demonstrates in The Words, is to find a really old book, retype it, and pass it off as your own. Bradley Cooper: plagiarist! If this notion isn’t shocking enough, consider that Cooper’s character steals his novel from the venerable Jeremy Irons, who, trickily, is played by Ben Barnes in flashbacks for a good portion of the movie. Even trickier, though not totally clear in this trailer, is that Bradley Cooper’s character is actually fictional himself and is trapped in a novel written by Dennis Quaid. (That’s why he’s standing at that podium, see?) So much to keep track of! Writing: a truly gripping and action-packed profession.Â
