'A-Team Week': Bradley Cooper Turns Face Into James Bond?

All week long, we’ve been giving you an exclusive look at the new “A-Team,” straight from the mouth of the director of the June 11th film that will bring them to the big screen, Joe Carnahan. From B.A. Baracus to “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock to the villainous Lynch, fans seem likely to see a good mix of the old and the new. Now, “A-Team Week” continues with an exclusive peek at the prettiest part of the crack commando unit: The Face Man.

“I think Dirk Benedict gave [Bradley Cooper] the biggest compliment: ‘This was who I wanted to be’,” Carnahan recalled of the day when the original Templeton Peck visited the set to film a cameo.

During his time there, Benedict had some kind words to say about Cooper’s re-interpretation of the character as a manlier, tougher Face. “I'll just give you an example of how different [Cooper’s Face] is: Bradley is in an inverted position, almost laying backwards, strapped to the side of this moving truck [in one scene].”

“[Cooper] was able to empty an M-4 and reload it in under four seconds,” Carnahan said of the new badass Face. “And we kept it in the movie, because it is so impressive. And that's how good he got, weapons-wise, that he's in command on that. You see him, and it's like he was holding an old girlfriend.”

As fans may remember, Face was always the group's diplomat, aiming for a non-violent resolution –- usually negotiating with a female -– before the team’s muscle had to come in and take things by force. And Carnahan promised that although Cooper’s Face will be more battle-tested than Benedict’s, he’ll still have a way with the ladies.

“I saw chicks get excited the way he handled that weapon,” Carnahan said with a laugh, insisting that the “Hangover” star is ready to take center stage as a sex symbol. “He got in the best shape of his life, by his own admission. He was just cut to shreds, eating sautéed spinach at every meal and drinking lemon water.”

Although some die-hard fans might be more concerned about Copley as Murdock or Rampage as B.A., Carnahan admitted that whether the movie will work or not hangs largely on Cooper's shoulders. “If there's going to be any deviation from the original show, I think it's going to be with the Face character,” Carnahan explained. “He's just as suave, but more of a Bond character. He really gets pretty funky in this thing, and you see a little bit of that in the teaser as he's dueling with this drone predator from the falling tank.”

“But I think people will be very pleased by that performance,” the “Smokin’ Aces” filmmaker insisted. “Especially giving Dirk Benedict the cameo, I think people will really dig it.”

What do you think of a badass, Bond-like Face Man? An improvement over the original, or too much of a deviation?