American actor Bradley Cooper has closed a deal to play the no-nonsense San Francisco cop Frank Bullitt in a new original Bullitt story set up at Warner Bros.
The San Francisco cop was first played by Steve McQueen in Steven Spielberg's 1968 thriller “Bullitt”.
Josh Singer penned the screenplay of the project with regular Spielberg collaborator Kristie Macosko Krieger on board to produce with the director.
Cooper is also producing the project alongside Spielberg and his producing partner Kristie Macosko Krieger, marking their second collaboration after "Maestro".
McQueen’s son Chad McQueen and granddaughter Molly McQueen will serve as executive producers.
Warner Bros., which released the 1968 thriller, is set to return to produce Spielberg’s new movie, which is not a remake, but an original story about the character.
The 1968 movie was based on the 1963 novel “Mute Witness” and followed Bullitt’s investigation into the death of a mob informant that he was tasked with protecting.
Directed by Peter Yates, “Bullitt” features one of the most memorable car chases in movie history with McQueen famously doing all of his driving in a modified Ford Mustang. The movie won the Oscar for editing and was also nominated for sound.
Cooper and Spielberg have been talking about the character and what a new take on the story would look like going back to the coronavirus pandemic when everyone was stuck in quarantine and at a loss for what to do with their time.
The pair have been trying for years to team up on something going back to when the acclaimed director came close to directing Cooper in the 2014 war movie "American Sniper".
However, Spielberg ultimately moved on and Clint Eastwood stepped in to direct the movie.
Spielberg had been developing "Maestro" for years and he came close to directing himself but after being blown away by Cooper’s award-winning 2018 movie "A Star Is Born", the legendary director felt Cooper was better suited to not only star in the movie but direct the love story as well.
Spielberg remained on as a producer of the movie alongside Macosko Krieger, Martin Scorsese, Fred Berner, and Amy Durning.
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