Steven Spielberg Casts Bradley Cooper as New Frank Bullitt

Fittingly, given how speedy the character tends to be in his first movie, things are moving quickly for Steve McQueen in 1968.

We brought you the news in February that Spielberg was developing a new movie that would take the hard-nosed policeman and bring him to a new story for Warner Bros.

Bradley Cooper is closing a deal to play the man, putting his own impressive charisma up against McQueen’s. Quite the challenge…

In Pat Renella). The witness is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt (McQueen). When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses.

The result is widely regarded as one of the most iconic car chases in movie history, barreling through the streets of San Francisco and jumping its many hills, all scored with Lalo Schifrin’s memorable music.

No details have been released about what the The Post’ for Spielberg, is developing the script with the director.

This marks Spielberg and Cooper finding a way to work directly together at last after a couple of false starts. Spielberg was originally aboard ‘Leonard Bernstein.

As with ‘Sniper’, Spielberg was considering directing, but began to reconsider. And after seeing how Cooper handled calling the shots (and starring) in the Oscar-winning ‘Netflix next year.

And this potential ‘Bullitt’ collaboration has been rumbling for a while like the engine of a 1968 Ford Mustang. Spielberg and Cooper apparently spent time spit-balling what might make for a good outing during the pandemic (presumably over zoom like everyone else) and figuring out whether it’s something they wanted to work on.

Looks like they worked it all out, though the movie is still just in development for now.

As for Spielberg, his semi-autobiographical drama ‘The Fabelmans’ is on limited release now, ahead of a wider platform schedule next week.