Bradley Cooper Really Wants to Adapt ‘Paradise Lost’
Not content with being a bankable movie star, Bradley Cooper is gearing up for an ambitious second act. While wrapping up post-production on Maestro, the A-list actor seems to be circling a very personal project that once got away: John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The famous epic poem is the stuff of nightmares for studio bean counters. But for nine-time Oscar nominee Cooper, Paradise Lost might just be his white whale after nearly making the movie a decade ago.
Bradley Cooper explains how a cinematic ‘Paradise Lost’ almost came together in 2011
Fresh off The Hangover’s financial success, Cooper was looking to branch out in a major way in 2011. Just before Silver Linings Playbook changed his career, he landed a role in Alex Proyas’ version of Paradise Lost. With an initial budget of about $120 million, the movie was expected to be heavy on action, with the plot centering on a sprawling battle between heaven and hell (via Collider). At the time, Cooper had already been flirting with the project for years.
The material was also extremely familiar to Cooper. Explaining his interest in a GQ interview, Cooper said he was completely blown away by Milton’s entire work when he first read it in his youth. But it was the character of Satan/Lucifer who really made an imprint. Upon landing the coveted role, Cooper was nothing shy of ecstatic. “I got the role, I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy,” Cooper told fellow actor Mahershala Ali in an interview for Variety, “and then it wound up not coming together.” He also told Ali that Lucifer was actually the last role he auditioned for before his career took off.
Despite Cooper’s enthusiasm for the project, the movie lingered in pre-production. Studio Legendary Pictures expressed second thoughts by 2012. Per The Hollywood Reporter, producers recognized the movie could be a very risky gambit with an Avatar-level budget. (For reference, Avatar officially cost about $237 million in 2009 dollars just to produce (via The Numbers).)
Bradley Cooper recently said he was again interested in ‘Paradise Lost’
The project has remained in Cooper’s mind. But he’s been a little too busy in recent years to take on the massive effort of adapting Milton’s epic poem. From the Variety interview, Cooper has spent more than four years developing Maestro. The film marks his directorial follow-up to A Star is Born. Telling the story of iconic composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife (Carey Mulligan), Maestro was originally in the hands of Steven Spielberg. After showing Spielberg a cut of A Star is Born, Cooper convinced the legendary director to hand over the project.
But now, with Maestro in post-production, Cooper’s eye has begun to wander back to the world of Milton. “Maybe after Maestro I would want to write and direct a version of Paradise Lost,” he said to Ali, gleefully referring to the prospect as “insane.”
Now that Cooper has considerable experience as a producer and director, he seems well aware of the challenges ahead. Milton’s 17th-century poem is broken into 12 volumes. It encapsulates the entire biblical version of good and evil, starting with Satan’s banishment to hell. Cooper clearly has the passion to make Paradise Lost a reality. However, it’s unclear if it could even be captured in a single feature entry.
Bradley Cooper might have the clout to pull it off
To say that a lot has happened since Cooper’s first attempt at Paradise Lost would be an understatement. Since the project failed, Cooper has notched nine Oscar nominations—four as an actor, four as a producer, and one as a screenwriter. His last three (feature) producing credits have all ended with nominations for Best Picture (Nightmare Alley, Joker, A Star is Born). So he’s no fluke behind the camera.
Maestro could also give him even more Hollywood pull. Produced by Cooper alongside Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, Maestro has no official release date. But it is expected to launch next fall in time for awards season (per the Smartless podcast). If Maestro has a successful run for distributor Netflix, there’s no telling what’s next for Cooper.
For now, Cooper’s slate looks surprisingly clear for an A-lister, although that could change quickly once Maestro officially wraps post-production. Cooper has already finished lending his voice as Rocket in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is set to kick off the 2023 summer movie season. He’s also in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a 40-minute short film set to stream on Disney+ in late November.
