Upcoming: Bradley Cooper develops show on rise of ISIS

Mini-series is based on best-selling book by Joby Warrick

NEW YORK: Hollywood heartthrob Bradley Cooper is currently developing a mini-series based on a book about the rise of Islamic State militants, a show the author hopes will help Americans understand how the group came about.

Joby Warrick’s 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winner Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS tracks the group’s unlikely roots and transformation into a jihadist ensemble, from its origins in a remote Jordanian prison to advances in Syria. The non-fiction book also follows a small band of American and international agents, tasked with shutting the group down. “Delighted to finally be able to make this news public,” the 56-year-old Warrick said, in a Twitter post on Thursday.

Cooper — best known for starring in movies such as American Sniper and The Hangover — is developing the mini-series for HBO through his production company, the cable channel said. The series will dramatise the events of the book.

Warrick — a national security reporter at The Washington Post — said the series will aim to explain, educate and clarify issues about ISIS and its motivations, a subject he had discussed with Cooper and is of immediate and utmost importance to the world. “It’s entertainment but not purely entertainment,” Warrick said, in an interview on Friday. “The story is in good hands.”

According to him, Cooper and his partner producer Todd Phillips, had visited him at his home outside of Washington, DC earlier this year to pitch the idea. “When you write a book of nonfiction on an important subject, you’re flattered that there is film interest but you’re also a little worried,” Warrick admitted. “You wonder how it will be transformed.” Warrick added, noting that while he would not be writing the script, the film team has made him “feel like a partner” by asking for his input. “I came away feeling very impressed with the integrity of their ideas.” No casting or estimated air date has been announced for Black Flags just yet.

Cooper and Phillips formed their production company Joint Effort, back in 2014. Their project War Dogs — a comedy about arms dealers in Afghanistan which Cooper also stars in — will be released August 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2016.

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