Some were skeptical when Bradley Cooper lined up the title role in the remake of The Crow, but Cooper’s dramatic bona fides have earned an endorsement from one crucial person: the director of the original movie. Variety reports that Alex Proyas, who directed The Crow in 1994, is negotiating with Cooper to play Lucifer in his big-screen adaptation of the John Milton classic poem Paradise Lost. Now that’s putting Cooper’s smirk to good use. [Variety]