By Nicole Brewer

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It’s been described as a movie within a book within a story, but our Nicole Brewer got an inside look at “The Words,” when she sat down with the star (and executive producer) of the film Bradley Cooper, as well as the writers and directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal.

Having grown up in the Philadelphia area, Cooper, Klugman and Sternthal were childhood friends long before they became film colleagues.

So the trio had plenty to talk about, beginning with the plot of the movie, which took ten years to complete.

“I would say it’s a romantic drama about choices and consequences, and it just has a great, romantic and epic quality that just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” said Klugman.

The film, which is based on the story of aspiring author Rory Jansen (played by Bradley Cooper) centers around his tragic decision to plagiarize a previously unpublished manuscript, written several years earlier by an “Old Man” (played by Jeremy Irons).

And while Rory achieves worldwide acclaim, his secret proves more damaging to his personal life than his professional one.

“It’s about humanizing him and allowing for the audience to understand why he makes the decisions he makes, and that’s because of the talented writing in the script,” explained Cooper. “It’s not just about a character who is super ambitious and will do whatever he can to succeed, it really is a guy who robs himself of the bliss of creating because of his impatience.”

Cooper went on to credit the talented cast, which also includes Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde and Zoe Saldana.

When asked if it was ever difficult to work with close friends, the three men quipped, “The sad thing is that we don’t talk to each other anymore.”

All kidding aside, Sternthal describes their on-set relationships as “seamless and really great.”

And they hope the movie is, too.

“The Words,” a CBS film, hits theaters September 7th.