Bradley Cooper may be in the midst of one of the most compelling phases of his career. Now that he’s gotten A Star Is Born out of his system (and ours), Cooper is working on some interesting collaborations: A role in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, directing and starring in a Leonard Bernstein biopic produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, and—according to THR—a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. Cooper is in talks to play an unspecified role in Anderson’s upcoming film, a coming-of-age drama set in the 1970s. The highly-anticipated follow-up to Phantom Thread and all those Haim videos is said to involve “multiple storylines centering around a kid actor attending high school.” As with numerous other PTA joints, including Boogie Nights and Magnolia, this one is set in and around the San Fernando Valley.
The filmmaker’s latest effort is still untitled and character details have yet to be revealed, so it’s unclear if Cooper is about to give us a nuclear performance on par with Tom Cruise in Magnolia (dare to dream). The project recently moved from Focus Features over to MGM, where production remains shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anderson reportedly hopes to begin shooting this fall, if and when film/TV production resumes in Los Angeles.