Sean Penn will direct a new film about the January 6 riot set to star Bradley Cooper.

According to Deadline, the star, who recently won his third Oscar, will bring what’s been described as a “passion project” to the screen and act as both writer and director.

The as-yet-untitled drama will follow the life of a police officer who gets mixed up in the violent insurrection of 2021. Cooper is reportedly in talks to play him.

The film has also been referred to as an “unexpected story about friendship” that will be made in collaboration with the real-life subject whose identity is being kept hidden for now.

Penn attended a January 6 House committee hearing in 2022, describing himself as “just another citizen” who was there to observe.

“I think we all saw what happened on January 6, and now we’re looking to see if justice comes on the other side of it,” he said.

Penn has also previously referred to Donald Trump as “an enemy of mankind” and a “narcissist”.

The multi-hyphenate was most recently seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s revolutionary comedy thriller One Battle After Another, a performance that won him his third Oscar. He did not attend the awards as he was in Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

His previous Oscars were for playing the gay activist Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk and for his role in the crime drama Mystic River.

Cooper, who has received 12 Oscar nominations, was last seen in Is This Thing On?, a comedy he also directed. He will next be heard in Bong Joon-ho’s animated adventure Ally alongside Ayo Edebiri, and will also write, direct and star in an Ocean’s Eleven prequel with Margot Robbie.

The events of January 6 are also believed to be loosely covered in Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming Facebook sequel The Social Reckoning, which examines social media’s role in the events.

• This article was amended on 16 June 2026. An earlier version stated that Sean Penn had won two Oscars, not three.