Bradley Cooper To Star As Duke In Paramount’s New ‘G.I. Joe’ Movie From Director Danny McBride

Danny McBride and Paramount Pictures has found their Duke to lead the troops in its new G.I. Joe movie as sources tell Deadline Bradley Cooper is set to star as the leader the military unit in the latest film based on the Hasbro toy line.

McBride is directing the pic, having landed the job after his was one of a handful of pitches Paramount was looking at earlier this year. McBride, who is celebrated for his distinctive voice and creative vision, also is writing the screenplay with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri.

Once McBride landed the job, he had a wish list of actors he wanted to star, with Cooper at the top. Given Cooper’s busy schedule, which includes writing, directing and starring opposite Margot Robbie in the upcoming Ocean’s prequel, there was no guarantee he would be able to commit to G.I. Joe. But after reading the script and meeting with McBride, he knew wanted to do star in the pic, and negotiations began in recent weeks.

Cooper brings his unique artistic excellence to the film as one of Hollywood’s most accomplished actors. This isn’t the first time McBride took a swing at casting the 12-time Oscar nominee in a project as he famously has told the story of how he got Cooper to do a guest role in his HBO series The Righteous Gemstones.

RELATED: Sean Penn To Direct Timely Movie Next, Re-Teaming With Warner Bros On Story Of January 6th Cop With Bradley Cooper In Talks To Star

Cooper already has had himself a year following the critical acclaim of his Searchlight film Is This Thing On?, which he directed, wrote and starred in opposite Will Arnett. The Ocean’s prequel was next up, and after losing director Lee Isaac Chung during pre-production, Warner Bros came to Cooper to keep the movie on course for its release by asking him to not only star opposite Robbie but write and direct the film. Not only was he able to keep production in line, he also assembled the same high-profile cast the franchise is known for. The film is in production in Europe.

The untitled G.I. Joe pic is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, and Zev Foreman for Hasbro Entertainment. Plot details are under wraps, but it will be a reimagining of the franchise. It also will be uncoupled from a previous crossover film with Transformers that is no longer in development.

Growing Paramount’s franchises is a key pillar of the slate strategy set forth by Co-Chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg earlier this year, as they’ve assembled top talent to develop and revitalize Paramount’s existing franchises and IP, including Days of Thunder, starring Anne Hathaway, reuniting Tom Cruise with Jerry Bruckheimer with Jonathan Levine directing, World War Z, landing Brad Pitt’s return with Oscar winner Ed Berger set to direct; a new Paranormal Activity film with James Wan and Jason Blum producing; a new Star Trek project from Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, expanding the franchise with a new live-action film produced by Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher, in addition to the upcoming 2027 sequel to Mutant Mayhem from Seth Rogen and Point Grey; Sonic the Hedgehog 4, reuniting fan favorites Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba along with new additions to the Sonic family: Kristen Bell, Nick Offerman and Ben Kingsley; and the next installment of Top Gun: Maverick. Paramount is also growing its portfolio by bringing well-known IP in-house, including the first-ever Call of Duty film in partnership with Activision written and produced by Pete Berg with Taylor Sheridan with Berg directing. They also have A Quiet Place Part 3 starring Emily Blunt with John Krasinski directing.

Cooper and McBride are both repped by Range.

Via: Deadline