A lot of upcoming movies have been the subject of massive bidding wars, and the latest studio to come out victorious is Amazon. According to Deadline, Amazon and MGM Studios have won Best of Enemies, an adaptation of the spy thriller Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War by Eric Dezenhall and Gus Russo, which is set to star Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. The film is being written by Eric Warren Singer, who is known for co-writing David O. Russell’s American Hustle, which starred Cooper and Bale back in 2013. Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven is producing the project, marking another American Hustle alum to be attached to the project.ย
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According to the report, Best of Enemiesย might be “the biggest pitch deal of the entire year.” It came down to eight bidders with Warner Bros. being Amazon’s final competition. The deal is reportedly in the high seven figures for the writer and producer, and it is expected to be a theatrical release. Cooper is rumored to be directing the film, but that role has not been finalized. Cooper previously helmed the Oscar-nominated film, A Star Is Born, and the current awards season contender, Maestro.ย
What Is Best of Enemies About?
You can read Deadline‘s description of Best of Enemies here: “Published by Hachette imprint Twelve in 2018, the book tells the story of CIA agent Jack Platt (Cooper) and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko (Bale), a pair of Cold War spies who developed an unlikely friendship at a time when they should have been anything but. Platt and Vasilenko were new entrants to the D.C. intelligence scene back in 1978, with the former working out of the CIA’s counterintelligence office and the latter out of the Soviet Embassy. Remarkably, they came to establish strong personal ties, even after each was sent to seduce the other into betraying their country.
The pair were involved with solving some of the most famous spy stories of the 20th century, including the rooting out of Soviet mole Robert Hanssen. While Vasilenko spent some time in a Soviet prison after it came to the government’s attention that he’d been working as a double agent for the U.S., he ultimately was freed with help from the CIA during the Spy Swap of 2010. Among other advocates during his period of incarceration was none other than American Hustle‘s Robert De Niro.”
Are you excited to see Cooper and Bale team up again? Tell us in the comments!ย
