Having earned a well-deserved Best Actor nod for Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper’s upcoming slate has been interesting to watch, to say the least. The Hangover Part III hits theatres at the end of the month, and things continue to look good for him. And with filming underway on David O. Russel’s Playbook follow-up, American Hustle, Steven Spielberg has now committed to making American Sniper, the Bradley Cooper-led project, his next movie.
Unfortunately, Cooper’s schedule has forced him to exit one project we were really looking forward to seeing him in, with THR reporting that he has now officially exited Jane Got a Gun, which you might recall has been somewhat troubled with problems in recent months.
Before production began, Michael Fassbender exited – amicably – one of the leading roles, and was then replaced by Jude Law. So far, so good. But when director Lynne Ramsey exited just before production began (less amicably, though full details remain unclear), Law soon followed her out, having signed on to work with the We Need to Talk About Kevin director.
Bradley Cooper came on board at the start of last month. But with the film’s shooting schedule changing to accommodate Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), who boarded the helm in Lynne’s place, a clash with Cooper’s own schedule seems to have arisen, forcing his exit.
“Regretfully, due to date conflicts between the film I am currently shooting for David O’Russell [American Hustle] and Jane’s Got a Gun, I am unable to join Natalie [Portman], Joel [Edgerton], Noah [Emmerich] and Gavin [O’Connor] on this truly exciting project… I was really looking forward to being a part of it and hope to work with each and every one in the future.”
Definitely a real, real shame to see this conflict come about. But with Cooper now officially out, we can only look ahead to see who comes on board in his place. The good news is that, because of the altered shooting schedule, his exit doesn’t affect the project on that front, and so the filmmakers, which include Natalie Portman and Scott Steindorff as producers, have some time to find his replacement, particularly since his part isn’t set to shoot until the latter half of production.
And hot on the heels of Cooper’s exit comes the news from The Wrap that Steven Spielberg has confirmed American Sniper as his next directing job, following Lincoln.
The movie is based on the original bestselling book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwan, and Jim DeFelice.
The book chronicles Chris Kyle’s journey from being a Texas rodeo cowboy to becoming the Navy SEAL Chief with the highest number of sniper kills in US military history.
Cooper and his production company optioned the rights a year ago, and fast-tracked the project after Kyle was shot and killed earlier this year at a shooting range.
Spielberg will be directing from a script penned by Jason Hall (Paranoia).
As of yet, no word on when we can expect production to begin on American Sniper. But with Cooper ever on the rise, it’s definitely another project to look forward to with incredible anticipation, all the more so with Spielberg now on board.
