Bradley Cooper on Jennifer Aniston: she's simply a friend'

Bradley Cooper was asked at an event on Friday in Paris if he had a hot new romance with Jennifer Aniston, with whom he had a well documented dinner date in New York last week. He said that he worked with her and that they're friends, but he didn't exactly deny that he was out on a date with her. The way he words his statement makes it sound like there could eventually be a romantic relationship there, but that it hasn't developed yet. He said 'If someone says ‘hello' to her, it's [a] given [in the tabloid press] that he's fallen in love with her.' It's like he's hinting that it could go somewhere, but saying they're in the early stages yet and he's not sure. At least that's how I interpreted it:

First they reputedly flirted at a party. Then, June 18, they definitely had dinner together. So, what is going on between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Aniston?

That was the question put to The Hangover star on Friday in Paris, where he had accepted an invitation from Louis Vuitton to be their guest at a menswear event. Told there had been talk that he and Aniston had been out together, Cooper replied with a laugh: 'Who talked about it? It wasn't me. It was someone else.'

In a more serious vein, Cooper, 34, said of Aniston (in French, which he speaks fluently from his 1996 exchange-student days): 'She's a friend of mine. Simply, simply, just a friend.'

He further clarified, 'In America, its not like it is here. She's someone who is super, super known. Famous. If someone says ‘hello' to her, it's given that he's fallen in love with her. So, no. No. She's a very, very interesting woman, but she's simply a friend.

'We made a film together' - He's Just Not That Into You - 'but we didn't have any scenes together. I got hired in at the beginning of the casting, and my part was solely with Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Connelley. Which isn't bad at all.'

Next up for Hollywood's hot new leading man - whose sequel to The Hangover won't shoot until 2011 - is a reunion with another 'good friend,' Jennifer Garner, in Valentine's Day. Also starring Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Ashton Kutcher, the film begins production in September.

[From People]

Cooper was seen out on another lunch-type date with an unknown woman on June 22, and he's been linked to Lake Bell after the two were seen looking 'cosy' at an event - also last week. Is Cooper playing the field and will he ever be ready to settle down? I'm beginning to think that his date with Aniston wasn't some kind of PR move, as I suspected after seeing a suspicious profile of him in People Magazine shortly afterwards. He's a single 34 year-old guy whose Hollywood career is about to take off, of course he's dating and having fun. At least Aniston is going out with a guy who doesn't Twitter his every thought and make insinuating remarks to the press. Cooper is trying to remain classy about the whole thing, and I bet the 'falling in love' part might come in time if he finds her so interesting. It was telling that he brought the L word up.

Jennifer Aniston is shown on the Atlantic City, NJ set of The Bounty Hunter on 6/26/09 with Gerard Butler. Bradley Cooper is shown in Paris at the Louis Vuitton menswear show on 6/25/09 Credit: Fame Pictures.