Bradley Cooper Directing and Starring with Will Arnett in new Movie ‘Is This Thing On?’
The mysterious new film has a script from Arnett and Mark Chappell but will have to wait until after the writers’ strike to continue.
They have been friends for years, but Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett haven’t collaborated on screen much besides both being in the casts for ‘The Comebacks’ and ‘The Rocker’. But all that is set to change now they’re teaming up for a new movie called‘Is This Thing On?’
What’s the story of Cooper and Arnett’s new movie?
That’s the big mystery right now. In keeping with so many movies at an early stage of development, the plot details have yet to be released.
But can we postulate that the title refers to stand-up comedians? It certainly sounds like something someone on stage would say to a bad audience.
Arnett wrote the script with Mark Chappell, with whom he collaborated on Netflix comedy drama ‘Flaked’. He’ll star in the movie alongside Cooper, and the latter will direct.
According to Deadline, Arnett and Chappell completed a draft before the start of the WGA strike, but it still needs more work, but that will have to wait until the strike is over.
Bradley Cooper’s advancing career
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Cooper, of course, is also no stranger to comedy, having appeared in the likes of the ‘Hangover’ movies and on ‘Wet Hot American Summer’. He’s one of the best-known actors, and has credits including ‘American’ Sniper’, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ and, more recently, ‘Nightmare Alley’. He also lends his voice to Rocket Raccoon in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies.
But in more recent years has also become a respected director and producer, scooping up Oscar nominations for the likes of ‘A Star is Born’ and ‘Joker’.
Right now, he’s in post-production on ‘Maestro’, focused on composer Leonard Bernstein, in which he plays the music legend as well as directing, producing and co-writing. Netflix is hoping that this could be one of its big awards players this year.
Arnett’s credentials
Arnett, meanwhile, is probably still best known for TV’s ‘Arrested Development’, where he played the smug Gob. He’s also the lead voice in ‘BoJack Horseman’.
Movie-wise, he’s the voice of Batman in the ‘Lego Movies’ (including leading ‘The Lego Batman Movie’) and has been seen in such movies as the live-action/CG ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ outings, ‘Blades of Glory’ and ‘Hot Rod’. He’s also one of the hosts of the ‘SmartLess’ Podcast, which has just released a documentary series on Max covering its recent live tour. Next up for the actor? The long-awaited release of Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’, due in theaters on November 17th.
‘Is This Thing On’ is set up at Searchlight Pictures, but, as mentioned above, there’s no idea when it’ll start shooting, which means it also doesn’t yet have an assigned release date.
Other Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett Movies:
- 'Wedding Crashers' (2005)
- 'Monster-in-Law' (2005)
- 'The Comebacks' (2007)
- 'Blades of Glory' (2007)
- 'Yes Man' (2008)
- 'Semi-Pro' (2008)
- 'Horton Hears a Who!' (2008)
- 'The Rocker' (2008)
- 'The Hangover' (2009)
- 'The A-Team' (2010)
- 'Jonah Hex' (2010)
- 'Despicable Me' (2010)
- 'Limitless' (2011)
- 'The Hangover Part II' (2011)
- 'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012)
- 'The Place Beyond the Pines' (2013)
- 'The Hangover Part III' (2013)
- 'American Hustle' (2013)
- 'The Nut Job' (2014)
- 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (2014)
- 'The Lego Movie' (2014)
- 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014)
- 'American Sniper' (2014)
- 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' (2016)
- 'Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping' (2016)
- 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' (2017)
- 'The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature' (2017)
- 'The Lego Batman Movie' (2017)
- 'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018)
- 'Teen Titans Go! To the Movies' (2018)
- 'A Star Is Born' (2018)
- 'The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part' (2019)
- 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019)
- 'Dolittle' (2020)
- 'Licorice Pizza' (2021)
- 'Nightmare Alley' (2021)
- 'Thor: Love and Thunder' (2022)
- 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' (2022)
- 'Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3' (2023)