Bradley Cooper has found his next project to direct after his upcoming Leonard Bernstein project “Maestro,” and it’s a team-up with someone near and dear to his heart, his buddy Will Arnett.
Cooper is attached to direct “Is This Thing On?,” and both Cooper and Arnett will also star in and produce the film that has a script written by Arnett and Mark Chappell (“See How They Run”), an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire. The film is currently in development at Searchlight and is described as a dark comedy, though plot details are being kept under wraps.
Arnett and Chappell did the first draft of the script, and Cooper is expected to do a pass on the script once the writers strike has concluded.
Cooper is producing “Is This Thing On?” along with Arnett and Kris Thykier through his Archery Pictures banner. John Bishop will executive produce.
Cooper and Arnett have been close for the past 20 years, when the two shared an apartment building early in their careers. But their bonds go deeper than that, as Cooper appeared on the 100th episode of Arnett’s podcast “SmartLess” back in 2022 and revealed that Arnett helped Cooper through substance abuse issues that helped change his life and career.
Cooper’s “Maestro,” his follow-up project to “A Star Is Born” (2018), figures to be a major Oscar contender when it’s released later this year by Netflix. Cooper also recently was a major part of “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3” when he reprised his voice role as Rocket Raccoon.
Arnett is producing Peacock’s upcoming series “Twisted Metal,” which premieres in July, and he will co-star in Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins”, also for Searchlight Pictures.
Cooper is represented by Range Media Partners. Arnett is represented by CAA, Artists First, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Deadline first reported the news.
