"The A-Team" member Bradley Cooper is attached to star in an untitled baseball movie based on a pitch from "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" writer Allan Loeb, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Described as in the vein of "Scent of a Woman" and "The Rookie," the Disney dramedy follows a baseball player who gets injured and is sent back to the minors for a rehab assignment. Unfortunately, the only place he can find lodging is in a senior citizens’ home where he meets an old baseball guru who helps lead him back to glory.
I like the idea of Cooper as a down-on-his-luck athlete, and there’s potentially a lot of comedy for Loeb to mine from the quirky old folks living with him. Let’s face it — elderly people are funny, whether it’s Abe Vigoda in "Look Who’s Talking," Ben Stiller extending Grandma’s arts and crafts time by four hours in "Happy Gilmore," or Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel making the best of old age in Andrew and Luke Wilson’s "The Wendell Baker Story."
The project seems to be inspired by the strange-but-true story of Josh Faiola, a 26 year-old pitcher who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 and sent to the team’s minor league affiliate, the Lake Erie Crushers. Instead of staying with a host family, he took up residence at the Belvedere of Westlake assisted living facility, where he was 55 years younger than the average age of his "roommates."
Andrew Panay will produce with Loeb and his Scarlet Fire Entertainment partner Steven Pearl. Panay hatched the idea with his Panay Films development exec Adam Blum before taking it to Scarlet Fire.
Cooper recently wrapped Neil Burger’s thriller "Dark Fields," and has the Paramount horror movie "Case 39" awaiting release. He’s also attached to star opposite Kate Winlet in Susanne Bier’s modern love story "Which Brings Me to You," and will begin filming Todd Phillips’ sequel to "The Hangover" soon.
In addition to the "Wall Street" sequel, Loeb has written "Cheaters" for Ron Howard and "Just Go With It" for star Adam Sandler. He also has "Escape From New York" in development at New Line.
CAA represents Cooper and Loeb.
