Bradley Cooper is working on the Hyperion script
He's adapting Dan Simmons' epic sci-fi novels
Bradley Cooper is, it would seem, more than a really, really ridiculously good-looking face: he has been tapped to script an adaptation of Dan Simmons' Hyperion .
The actor was speaking on Charlie Rose when he announced the unexpected career move.
He said: "[We] went to [producer] Graham King, who own the rights to Hyperion , and we wrote a treatment on spec. I said, 'I know this is a very audacious endeavour, but can you just read this spec we wrote? I think we have a way in to tell the story.' So now we're negotiating to write the script for it."
That's not bad going for someone with no previous writing form, though Cooper's ambitions don't stop there: "This is an example of trying to get things started... Ideally I'd like to direct it, but there's no way."
His fame following successes like The Hangover , The A-Team and Limitless (on which he served as exec-producer) must have added to his clout, but it'll be interesting to see how he fares when he actually puts pen to paper (with the help of his friend Conal Byrne).
Hyperion ain't exactly the easiest starting block for a writer with no experience.
The epic sci-fi series of novels is inspired by the framework narratives of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio's Decameron , as it unites the stories of a bunch of pilgrims journeying to the Time Tombs of Hyperion.
The screenplay will need to nimbly weave a dense mythology into flashy space opera action.
As this is in the very early stages right now, don't go expecting further details for quite some time.
Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.
There was "no version" of Sonic 3 that wouldn't include Live and Learn according to director Jeff Fowler: "The fans would hunt me down"
Amid Oscar buzz, Zoe Saldana opens up on her new perspective on Hollywood and why she's only really proud of Avatar and Emilia Pérez: "I think I just have to accept who I am as a creative person"