UPDATED: Amazon has won the “Best of Enemies” sweepstakes. The bidding war included eight studios, including Netflix, but Amazon’s undisclosed seven-figure offer was the best of the lot.
It does look as though Cooper might direct it. He now has two possible post-“Maestro” projects, this one and the $10 million indie romcom “Is This Thing On?” Which one will be choose to tackle next?
EARLIER: Here’s another scoop from Jeff Sneider’s must-read newsletter …
Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale are in talks to star in “Best of Enemies”, an adaptation of Gus Russo and Eric Dezenhall’s book, “Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War”.
The screenplay is being written by Eric Warren Singer (“American Hustle”). The film is currently being shopped around, with Netflix and Apple considered to be the “frontrunners” to nab the project.
Sneider adds that Cooper might direct the film. Why wouldn’t he? It sounds like the kind of Oscar-bait that vies for awards. Here’s the synopsis:
The story follows two Cold War spies — CIA case officer Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko — who became improbable friends at a time when they should’ve been anything but.
They were both new arrivals in Washington D.C. in 1978 when their respective agencies assigned each man to seduce the other into betraying his country during the final days of the Cold War. Many years later, they helped discover the Soviet mole Robert Hanssen together and solved several other high-profile espionage mysteries.
Cooper would be playing Platt, while Bale would play Vasilenko. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robert De Niro shows up somewhere in the cast as well — he openly condemned Gennady’s incarceration and helped a lot with his case:
De Niro sent a Christmas card to Gennady in prison which contained this photo. The photo was enough to impress both the prison guards and the other inmates as DeNiro was just as famous in Russia as he was in the United States. Gennady’s treatment in prison immediately improved and he even came under the protection of Russian crime boss named Slava.
Cooper currently has “Maestro,” which he wrote, directed, and stars in. The film had a mini theatrical release from Netflix and will be streaming on the platform December 20th.
Sneider does mention that Cooper’s next project could be the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s “Bullitt” reboot, as he’s told that “[Spielberg] is eager to put the pedal to the metal on that film”. Last month, I wrote that it would indeed be Spielberg’s next film, with an undisclosed 2024 date eyed for production.
It’s now been 13 years since "The Grandmaster,” and it doesn’t sound like Wong Kar-wai will be making another film in the near future. His future seems to be on the small screen.