Bradley Cooper will follow up his directorial debut on A Star Is Born with an ambitious new project. The Oscar-nominated actor will star and direct in a biopic about legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, according to the Hollywood Reporter . In addition to top billing and directorial duties, Cooper is also working on the script for the film, titled Bernstein , with Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer ( Spotlight ). The movie will be produced alongside Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorsese, Fred Berner, Amy Durning, and Kristie Macosko Krieger.
Paramount Pictures and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin will co-finance the film Bernstein, which details the life story of the legendary conductor who composed the scores for West Side Story and On the Waterfront.
News of Bradley Cooper’s Bernstein film comes on the heels of the announcement that Jake Gyllenhaal would star as the music legend in another biopic, The American , from director Cary Fukunaga. There is no word on how the dueling films will differ in terms of Bernstein’s life story, but both films are sure to create a lot of buzz given the star power both on-camera and behind the scenes.
Leonard Bernstein began conducting the New York Philharmonic at the young age of 25, but his career really took off when he wrote and composed the music for the iconic 1961 film West Side Story . Leonard Bernstein died in 1990, but Aug. 25th marks the 100 th anniversary of the iconic composer’s birth.
Bradley Cooper will direct and star in upcoming biopic based on the life of famed composer of WEST SIDE STORY & ON THE TOWN, Leonard Bernstein! https://t.co/r34ovaIYBI
— BroadwayWorld (@BroadwayWorld) May 10, 2018
Bradley Cooper is known for his acting career in movies like The Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, but he has long said that directing a film was his ultimate goal, telling The Morning Joe about that goal back in 2014. Now it looks like Cooper can scratch that goal off of his bucket list, times two.
Bradley Cooper is at an all-time career high as he juggles multiple projects. The actor can currently be seen on the big screen in Avengers: Infinity War as Rocket. Cooper is also in post-production on the remake of the 1937 A Star Is Born film s tarring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March (a 1976 Kris Kristofferson-Barbra Streisand remake was also a blockbuster with an Oscar-winning soundtrack). Cooper’s A Star Is Born stars Lady Gaga and is set to hit theaters in October.
