Actor Bradley Cooper is Writing the Script for a 'Hyperion' Adaptation?

Source: SlashFilm, Charlie Rose

Yep, apparently he ain't just an actor. So SlashFilm and ComingSoon are reporting that Bradley Cooper, the one we know as Phil from The Hangover, or Face from A-Team, or Limitless, was chatting on Charlie Rose earlier this week and said that he got hired to write a screenplay for Hyperion. The story goes: "[We] went to [producer] Graham King, who own the rights to Hyperion, and we wrote a treatment on spec. I said, 'I know this is a very audacious endeavor, but can you just read this spec we wrote? I think we have a way in to tell the story.' So now we're negotiating to write the script for it." That's actually quite impressive.

"This is an example of trying to get things started," Cooper said of the writing gig. He's hoping this can eventually one day lead him to directing, his "true passion." He adds that "ideally I'd like to direct it, but there's no way." This obviously hasn't been announced and nothing is set in stone, but Cooper says "at least we have the chance to write the script for Hyperion." If all of this is true, the Hyperion we're talking about is an epic sci-fi series of books by Dan Simmons - known as the Hyperion Cantos - that at one point were being adapted for The Day the Earth Stood Still director Scott Derrickson to helm. But now with Derrickson onto Goliath, it sounds like Bradley Cooper and his friend Conal Byrne are working on a brand new take.

Hyperion deals with a space war, with most of the action taking place on a planet named Hyperion, known not only for its electricity-spewing trees but also for the Time Tombs, large artifacts that can move through time. The tombs are guarded by a monster called the Shrike, which impales people on metal trees. The series is inspired heavily by Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The cantos is highly complex, featuring multiple time-lines and characters whose behavior changes dramatically. As always, I'm curious to hear what Cooper & Byrne's take is that made King intrigued enough to hire them.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on this project and any other news we hear. Originally, newcomer Trevor Sands had been working on a draft of the screenplay for Graham King at Warner Bros, but now it sounds like Cooper is on the latest draft. We otherwise haven't had an update for years, so we'll have to see how this pans out with Bradley Cooper involved. Such an odd direction for him to go in, but I am certainly intrigued.