Bradley-CooperJane Got a Gun has had a rough time getting off the ground, but it looks like things are finally starting to fall back into place.

Original director, Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), abruptly exited the project as production began, and we’re still yet to discover solid reasoning for the change in plans.

The cast was initially led by Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Jude Law, and Rodrigo Santoro, with Portman also producing alongside Scott Steindorff, Terry Dougas, and Aleen Keshishian.

When Ramsay exited, the producers managed to keep the cast and crew together, determined to bring a replacement director on board. And that happened very quickly, with Gavin O’Connor (Warrior) signing on within a matter of days.

But then Jude Law decided to exit the production, having wanted to work with Ramsay on Jane Got a Gun. And since then, we’ve not heard anything about who would be coming on in his place.

Now Deadline are reporting that the brilliant Bradley Cooper is replacing him as the antagonist in the movie, which centres on a woman (Portman) whose outlaw husband returns home riddled with bullets. Convinced his gang (led by Cooper) will return to finish him off and destroy her farm, the woman turns to an ex-lover (Edgerton) she hasn’t seen in a decade to help her defend the farm.

O’Connor is directing from a script penned by Brian Duffield, who makes his debut as a writer.

The producers have done an incredible job of keeping the production together here. Jane Got a Gun has been very much an anticipated movie for us for a while now, and Ramsay’s exit was a huge shock last month. So when the movie does finally see its release, we’ll have Portman, Steindorff, and co. to thank for the fact that it didn’t simply crumble as it easily could have.

Cooper is a remarkable replacement for them here, with recent performances in Silver Linings Playbook (which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor) and The Place Beyond the Pines cementing his status as one of the finest actors of his generation.

The upcoming The Hangover Part III is all but guaranteed to continue to prove Cooper to be an actor loved the world over, and with a slew of big films on his slate, including reuniting with Jennifer Lawrence on Susannie Bier’s Serena as well as David O. Russell’s next movie (referred to as the Abscam project), co-starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Jeremy Renner, we’ve clearly got a lot to look forward to from Cooper in the near future.

And with him now coming on board to star alongside Portman, Edgerton, and Santoro in Jane Got a Gun, we can add yet another movie to the anticipated list on his slate.