Filmmaker Scott Cooper, whose Whitey Bulger crime drama Black Mass is one of the must-sees of this week’s Venice Film Festival, is already lining up his next project. The Wrap reports that Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace director is in talks to take the helm of the Warner Bros. adaptation American Wolf. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nate Blakeslee, the story revolves around a hunter in Yellowstone National Park who accidentally kills an endangered American wolf and strikes up an unlikely friendship with the wildlife researcher who works with the wolves in the park.

The wolf that was killed was O-Six, a female alpha wolf who was widely known in some circles. She was collared and tracked throughout Yellowstone, and her killing sparked outrage despite it being legal. Cooper is a fascinating filmmaker, and while Out of the Furnace wasn’t universally adored, I found it to be an ambitious and unflinchingly dark look at this country’s working class. With the despicable and cowardly act of Big Game hunting in the news quite frequently lately, it sounds like Cooper and Warner Bros. plan to take on this timely issue in dramatic fashion.


After Out of the Furnace Cooper was set to write and direct The Stand for Warner Bros. but he ultimately became the next in a series of filmmakers who left that daunting project. He quickly found Black Mass, and that picture is one of the most anticipated films of the fall season, set for release later this month.

Leondaro DiCaprio will produce American Wolf through his Appian Way banner as he did Cooper’s Out of the Furnace, with Kevin McCormick and Jennifer Davisson Killoran producing as well.

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Image via Relativity Media