Paul Thomas Anderson's Next Movie Adds Bradley Cooper

Paul Thomas Anderson's still-untitled next film may have just found its first official cast member: Bradley Cooper (The Midnight Meat Train). Cooper is in talks to join Anderson's movie, a coming-of-age drama set in a high school in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. Plot details remain very hush-hush, but the project is said to involve multiple storylines like Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia. No word on who Cooper might play, but I'll go out on a limb and guess he's not one of the high school kids.THR has the scoop on Bradley Cooper joining the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie cast. All we know about the film so far is that it "involves multiple storylines centering around a kid actor attending high school in the Valley." So who would Cooper play? No idea! And THR doesn't offer any suggestions. If the story primarily focuses on high school kids, though, it's probably safe to assume Cooper plays a parent to one of the kids, or perhaps some faculty member at the school. Or maybe this movie will be weird as hell and have the 45-year-old Cooper playing a high school student.

Recently it was reported that Anderson's film was moving from Focus Features, who distributed his recent flick Phantom Thread, to MGM, due to "budgetary issues." The movie was supposed to start shooting this summer but has been delayed due to the coronavirus. As of now, the plan is to start shooting in the fall. But, of course, that could change, since nothing is certain these days.

I'm very excited for a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, as I honestly believe the man has yet to make a bad film. In fact, he's only gotten better and more interesting with each new title. I also like Cooper as an actor, and it'll be interesting to see him working with Anderson. An interesting side-note on this bit of casting: back in 2019 it was revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio passed on working with Anderson to star in Gullermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley. However, DiCaprio ended up leaving Nightmare Alley before filming began, and was replaced by...Bradley Cooper. If the Anderson film DiCaprio passed on was this untitled high school flick (and it probably was), it now looks like DiCaprio's loss is Cooper's gain for the second time in a row (assuming both actors were wanted for the same part).