It’s funny what starring in a sleeper-hit comedy movie will do for you. Just ask The Hangover star Bradley Cooper, who has picked up yet another leading movie role.
According to Variety, Cooper will be starring in a suspense thriller from Relativity Media and Universal Pictures called Dark Fields, directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist).
The plot, which I have some problems with, is as follows:
Project is described as a what-if story about a designer drug that can make you rich and powerful. Eddie (Cooper) is a down-and-out New York writer until he possesses a pill that gives him the ability to access the full capacity of his brain. He soon realizes that his newfound intelligence and success come at a hefty price as mysterious forces begin to pursue him.
First of all, I don’t think that increasing the ability to access all of your brain’s capabilities is automatically going to make you successful. It’s what you do with the information and abilities that you’re given that makes a person succeed in life. I mean, how many people do you know who are bright and talented, but due to some strange circumstances of life haven’t been able to fully utilize their talents?
Second, any writer worth his salt would not see the taking of this drug as being beneficial because he’ll have read “Flowers for Algernon” or seen Charly and would know that it’s not going to end well. I hope that screenwriter Leslie Dixon (Hairspray) addressed these problems when she adapted the script from the novel by Alan Glynn. (Incidentally, the description of the novel’s plot sounds way more intriguing than the movie.)
Filming will start late next spring.