Bradley Cooper to star in baseball film for Disney

Last year there was a big brouhaha surrounding the movie MONEYBALL. Brad Pitt was set to star for Steven Soderbergh, which you’d think would be enough to get the greenlight. But right before filming, Sony Pictures pulled the plug, saying the movie was too much of a gamble; no one in the international market cares about baseball movies. Those concerns don’t seem to be slowing down Disney and Bradley Cooper who are moving forward on an untitled baseball movie.

Described as SCENT OF A WOMAN meets baseball, the film would star Cooper as a player who gets injured and is sent to the minors while he’s recovering. Near his new farm team, there’s a senior citizen’s home and he meets an old major leaguer who helps him get his groove back.

The film is based on a pitch by Allan Loeb (WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS), who will also work on the script. While it might seem odd that a baseball movie with Brad Pitt would be a tough sell (in fairness, that film is looking to finally begin production next month with a new script), while one with Cooper would hit the fasttrack, Disney is hoping this can be something of a BLIND SIDE success for them that will transcend baseball (whereas MONEYBALL is inherently about baseball).

Cooper recently wrapped the suspense thriller THE DARK FIELDS for Rogue Pictures and has THE HANGOVER 2 set for filming later this year.