Following the great financial success and critical failure of "The Hangover: Part II," Bradley Cooper is turning his eye to a role that could offer the completely opposite outcome.
After reporting in May that he was in talks for the film, Variety now reports that Bradley Cooper has signed on to star in "The Place Beyond The Pines," joining Ryan Gosling in a crime drama from Gosling's "Blue Valentine" director, Derek Ciafrance.
According to the report, Gosling will play a pro motorcyclist who becomes a thief to support his son, while Cooper will take on the part of a rookie cop who becomes his rival.
The film is another turn toward the dramatic for Cooper; after breaking through with "Wedding Crashers," "The Hangover," and "The A-Team," he headlined his first film, the thriller drama "Limitless." That movie opened the box office at number one, establishing Cooper as a legitimate topliner in Hollywood.
The film begins shooting this summer; Cooper will also, it seems, eventually star as Lucifer in a big screen adaptation of Milton's seminal work, "Paradise Lost."
Cooper also has loftier goals; he hopes to one day direct a film, and has written a spec script for a big screen adaptation of the science fiction book series, "Hyperion."
For more on "The Place Beyond The Pines," click over to Variety.