Bradley Cooper set to lead Sean Penn-directed film about January 6th riots
Bradley Cooper is reportedly set to lead the cast of a film being directed by Sean Penn, depicting the infamous January 6th riots.
The January 6th attacks on the Capitol at the start of 2021 became a notorious piece of modern American history, but Penn’s new film is seemingly set to focus on the early life of a police officer who eventually becomes caught up in the incident.
To this end, Deadline has reported that Cooper is in talks to take on this leading role, although no official deal has been made yet.
The film will see Penn working with Warner Bros, who previously were behind his Oscar-winning acting turn in One Battle After Another.
However, with the Hollywood star now returning to the director’s chair for what is set to be his seventh feature film effort, following on from his last stint with 2021’s Flag Day, it seems his ambitions are taking on a new scale.
According to the publication, however, audiences may have a while to wait until they see this potential project on the big screen. Production is supposedly not set to begin until the middle of 2027, due to Cooper’s existing commitments on the next Oceans film.
Even still, it marks a particularly interesting new chapter for Penn, who concluded his dizzying turn as Colonel Steven J Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic One Battle After Another with an Oscar win for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at this year’s ceremony.
But despite the acclaim, Penn chose not to attend the ceremony to receive the award, instead recently saying that he did not like appearing at such events.
He explained, “It would be the same if this group was going to an afterparty and one stepped into that. That always represented social discomfort for me; too many people.”
During the conversation, which took place on June 5th at the Tribeca Film Festival, the actor also decried a modern method of celebrities being seen by fans and on social media, as he said: “People should not do selfies ever with anyone. It’s bad for you; it’s bad for everyone. It’s a soul-sucker.”
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