Bradley Cooper is joining the G.I. Joe franchise, with the Oscar-nominated actor set to play Duke in Paramount Pictures' next movie based on the Hasbro property.
Danny McBride will direct the untitled film, based on a script he co-wrote with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri. Plot details remain under wraps, but Cooper will take on the role of Duke, the leader of the G.I. Joe team. Channing Tatum previously portrayed the character in 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
The upcoming project will bring Paramount back to the military franchise built around characters including Duke, Snake Eyes, and Roadblock and their battles against Cobra, the organization featuring villains such as Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, and Zartan.
The movie is reportedly a major priority for Paramount as the studio increases its focus on established franchises. Cooper's casting as the lead of what is expected to be an ensemble could signal that G.I. Joe is moving closer to production.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian and Hasbro Entertainment's Zev Foreman are producing.
The project also represents a relatively rare franchise role for Cooper, whose recent work has largely centered on films in which he's had significant creative involvement. He starred as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, which he also directed and co-wrote, and later co-wrote, directed, and starred in Is This Thing On?
Cooper is no stranger to major franchises, however, having voiced Rocket throughout Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies and making a cameo in James Gunn's Superman.
The G.I. Joe project will also reunite him with McBride after Cooper previously appeared on an episode of HBO's The Righteous Gemstones.
