Bradley Cooper in Talks to Star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1970s Drama (Exclusive)

Bradley Cooper and Paul Thomas Anderson, each eight-time Oscar nominees, are teaming up.

Cooper is in talks to star in Anderson’s next feature, an untitled coming-of-age drama set in the 1970s San Fernando Valley, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Plot details are being kept secret, but the movie involves multiple storylines revolving around a kid actor attending high school in the Valley, which is the setting of some of Anderson’s best-known titles including Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love. It is unclear what role Cooper would play in the movie.

Anderson wrote and will produce the movie via his Ghoulardi Film Company banner, along with Sarah Murphy. 

The project, which recently jumped to MGM from Focus Features, was gearing up for a spring/summer 2020 production start date prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. According to sources, the project is now eyeing a fall start, but this is contingent on how and when productions are able to begin shooting again in Los Angeles.

MGM and Cooper’s reps had no comment.

After earning acclaim for his work on A Star Is Born, Cooper has set his next behind-the-camera project— an untitled Leonard Bernstein feature for Netflix. The movie will see Cooper direct and star as the legendary composer as well as produce with Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Cooper, repped by CAA, will next continue production on Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, which shut down in the middle of filming due to the pandemic.

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