Writer-director Scott Cooper is attracting a fair smattering of early Oscar buzz for Black Mass, with Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger also tipped for a Best Actor nod. Now the actor-turned-filmmaker is being lined up to helm new thriller White Knight.
Cooper, who started out as an actor in memorable roles like “Klansmen’s Son” in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (us neither), has since established himself as an actor’s director, steering Jeff Bridges to Oscar glory in Crazy Heart and earning decent notices for Out Of The Furnace.
Cooper’s now set to direct White Knight, rewriting an original script by The Judge screenwriter Bill Dubuque. According to Deadline, it details a former Secret Service agent who takes a job protecting the family of an arms dealer – and subsequently finds himself at the centre of a global manhunt.
Because nothing gets made in Hollywood without the word “franchise” being written in large letters on a whiteboard first, it’s apparently being lined up as a potential series for the unnamed character, in a Bourne Identity/James Bond mould.
Cooper had been in line to direct an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, but that project stalled, as it had done for several other directors (including Ben Affleck and David Yates). He is yet to sign on the dotted line for White Knight, but with a solid CV behind him, a big-budget thriller seems like the natural career trajectory. In the meantime, Black Mass arrives in UK cinemas on November 25, ahead of Hollywood’s lengthy awards season.