Not Lightning from Cars — we’re talking about a different McQueen movie. Per Deadline, Bradley Cooper is set to star as Frank Bullitt in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film about the character from Peter Yates’s 1968 thriller Bullitt. Originally played by Steve McQueen, Bullitt was a San Francisco cop tracking down a mob kingpin who killed a witness he was protecting. Bullitt is often remembered for its iconic, nearly 11-minute car-chase scene, although it’s not guaranteed that we’ll see the same vehicular stunts in Spielberg’s project. The West Side Story director is said to be attached to direct a new story for Warner Bros., not a remake of the original film. Screenwriter Josh Singer (Spotlight, The Post) is onboard to pen the script, which Spielberg will produce alongside Cooper and West Side Story producer Kristie Macosko Krieger. Steve McQueen’s son, Chad, and granddaughter, Molly, will serve as executive producers. Reportedly, this movie could have been Spielberg’s next project after West Side Story, but he needed time to negotiate with the McQueen estate for rights to the character. So instead, Spielberg shifted his focus to his semi-autobiographical project The Fabelmans. It might be a while until we actually see the Bullitt-based film, given that it is still in development. Hey, if anyone knows how to switch gears, it’s Spielberg.
This post has been updated throughout.