Scott Cooper went from little-known actor to celebrated writer-director with one film, the Academy Award-winning musician-centered drama Crazy Heart. Having recently wrapped on his promising follow-up, a crime-thriller called Out of the Furnace, he has set sites on another crime thriller, this one a remake of the French feature 36th Precinct. Deadline reports Thunder Road has hired Cooper to draft the adapted screenplay and direct.
Loosely inspired by real events, the original film was set in Paris and starred Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu as two cops battling for a promotion to become Direction Régionale de Police Judiciaire. Capturing a dangerous gang of armored car robbers becomes their perilous proving ground. Directed by Olivier Marchal, 36th Precinct went on to earn an impressive eight César Awards nominations. Reportedly, Cooper's version would be set in New York City within the NYPD's anti-terrorism unit. There's no word yet on who might star or when the 36th Precinct would aim to shoot.
Cooper has been much sought after following Crazy Heart's big Oscar night. After being in the running for the director's chair on Gangster Squad, he was attached to helm an English-language adaptation of the Argentinian film Carancho. Later, Cooper was considered for adapting duties on the non-fiction book The Man in the Rockefeller Suit, which detailed the adventures of a notoriously bold con artist. And most recently he committed to write and direct Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle Creek, an adaptation of the Michael Armour Depression-era crime novel The Road Home. Which project will actually be Cooper's next is currently unknown.
