Actor and director Bradley Cooper, best known for his roles in The Hangover and A Star Is Born, has reportedly signed on to play famous team leader Duke in Paramount’s big live-action G.I. Joe reboot. Why? Because the future is just our old toys and comics reheated over and over again until the sun burns out.
On October 1, Deadline reported that it had learned from sources that Bradley Cooper had signed on for the G.I. Joe project following a few weeks of negotiations. G.I. Joe movie director Danny McBride reportedly always wanted Cooper to star in the upcoming reboot as Duke, the famous leader of the team. But it wasn’t clear if Cooper’s busy schedule would allow him to find time to film the action movie. However, after reading the script and talking to McBride, Cooper was apparently excited to hop on board to play Duke. I bet the large amount of money helped, too.
As pointed out by Deadline, Cooper and McBride have worked together before, with the actor guest starring in the director’s popular comedy series The Righteous Gemstones on HBO. Currently, Cooper is writing, directing, and starring in WB’s still-in-production Ocean’s Eleven prequel.
Plot details are limited, though McBride has previously stated that his G.I. Joe movie will not be a comedy and will be set in Springfield.
Deadline confirmed that this new G.I. Joe movie won’t be a Transformers crossover as the last Transformers movie teased. It also isn’t connected to the previous live-action films released in 2009 and 2013. It’s also unrelated to the Snake Eyes origins movie that arrived in 2021, but which I don’t think anybody actually remembers anymore. That was a second attempt to reboot the live-action G.I. Joe series. McBride’s will be the third attempt at this from Paramount. Good luck to all involved, I guess.
