Bradley Cooper to play Frank Bullitt in the new Steven Spielberg film
With little time to relax after the success of The Fabelmans, legendary director Steven Spielberg has turned his attention towards his next project. As we know, Spielberg has an interminable list of ideas from which to choose from. This time, it looks like he will be breathing new life into the late Steve McQueen’s character Frank Bullitt.
The effortlessly cool McQueen played the role of Frank Bullitt in the classic 1968 thriller that shares the character’s surname. With Spielberg taking the helm from late English director Peter Yates, the reprised role has now been allocated to Bradley Cooper.
Following in McQueen’s footsteps will always be difficult, especially when it’s one of his career-defining roles. However, with standout leading roles in films like American Sniper, A Star is Born, and The Mule in recent years, Spielberg certainly feels Cooper is the man for the job.
It transpires that the pair have been looking to collaborate for a few years. They came close with the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, but when Spielberg regrettably pulled out, he suggested Cooper direct and star, having been impressed by his work on A Star Is Born.
According to Deadline, the actor and director team-up spent some time during the Covid-19 pandemic mapping out how a new Bullitt story might work, with scripting duties handed to The Post’s Josh Singer. The Bullitt spinoff is still in development and very much under wraps, but the news of Cooper’s role means we can start to get moderately excited.
For those who haven’t seen 1968’s Bullitt, the titular character, played by McQueen, works for a politician who asks him to protect a mob witness. When mobster hitmen hunt the witness, Bullitt decides to take on the mob single-handedly to bring down the kingpin of the organisation. The film is remembered most for featuring one of the finest car chases in cinema history.
See the car chase scene from 1968’s Bullitt below.
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