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As LAPD searches futilely for an armed and dangerous man with seemingly severe mental health issues, actor Bradley Cooper and director David O. Russell, who worked together on "Silver Linings Playbook," took to Washington D.C. to meet with Vice President Joe Biden about expanding the nation's access to mental healthcare.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cooper and Russell talked to Biden and Senator Debbie Stabenow as part of the legislators' larger effort to curb gun violence.
They then helped Stabenow introduce the Excellence in Mental Health Act to the senate, which would require standardized care at the nation's mental health facilities, and expand access to them as well.
Both Cooper and Russell have personal ties to mental illness. In "Silver Linings Playbook," Cooper plays a bipolar man, a role for which he's received huge accolades. Russell, for his part, has a bipolar son who is 11. The Reporter quotes him as saying at a press conference:
"When your son is 11 and he has a mood disorder and he tells you that he's not so happy about this business called living, you would do anything for that child to turn it around."
Cooper will tackle another wrenching topic later this year when he stars in the film "Serena," about a Depression-era man who learns that his wife can't bear children. On a lighter note, he's also going to be in "The Hangover Part III," if you're into that sort of thing.
