Paramount Pictures Closes Deal for Leonard Bernstein Biopic Starring Bradley Cooper

According to Variety, Paramount Pictures and Amblin Partners have finalized a deal to secure the music and life rights from Leonard Bernstein's estate, with Bradley Cooper in talks to direct, produce, and star in a biopic about the legendary composer.

Josh Singer wrote the script, and Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Kristie Macosko Krieger will produce. Cooper will also produce the film through his Production Company, Joint Effort.

Cooper takes on this project after completing his directorial debut on A Star Is Born, in which he stars with Lady Gaga for Warner Bros. Cooper recently starred in Limitless and as rookie police officer in the crime drama The Place BEYOND the Pines. He found greater success with the romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook , the black comedy crime film American Hustle, and the biopic American Sniper . For his work in these films, Cooper was nominated for Academy Awards-two for Best Actor, one for Best Supporting Actor, and one for Best Picture. Cooper became the tenth actor to receive an Academy Award nomination in three consecutive years. In 2014, he portrayed Joseph Merrick in a Broadway revival of The Elephant Man, garnering a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Also starting in 2014, he became known for his voice role as Rocket Raccoon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Leonard Bernstein famed from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, Peter Pan,Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On the Waterfront, his Mass, and a range of other compositions, including three symphonies and many shorter chamber and solo works. Bernstein was the first conductor to give a series of television lectures on classical music, starting in 1954 and continuing until his death. He was a skilled pianist, often conducting piano concertos from the keyboard. As a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and pieces for the piano. Many of his works are regularly performed around the world, although none has matched the tremendous popular and critical success of West Side Story.

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Photo Credit: Walter McBride