There's certainly been curiosity surrounding Sean Penn's next directorial effort. The untitled film centers on a police officer, rumored to be Michael Fanone, swept up in the events of January 6, with Warner Bros. backing it.
Tom Hardy, whom Penn name-checked last year, originally had the role, but Bradley Cooper recently attached himself to the film.
According to The InSneider, the film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in select theaters in December 2028 before going wide in January 2029, timed to President Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.
By that point, in 2027/2028 — if the film even gets that far into pre- or post-production — David Ellison's Skydance could very well be calling the shots over at Warner Bros., and a January 6 drama seems like an obvious candidate for the chopping block.
Then again, maybe the timing is purposeful.
You see, I've been hearing that Warner Bros. film chiefs Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, who are greenlighting aggressively while their own futures hang on how the Paramount-Skydance merger reshapes the studio, believe the plan once Ellison comes into the picture is to spin Clockwork off as its own separate entity — a studio independent of Ellison's acquisition of Warner Bros. that would operate on its own, outside the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. I've heard they want Clockwork to compete with the likes of A24 and Neon.
Deadline describes Penn's January 6 movie as an unexpected story about friendship. Fanone served with the Metropolitan Police Department from 2001 until retiring in 2021, was injured responding to the Capitol attack, and had been a Trump supporter. His book "Hold The Line" recounts a key friendship with a Black transgender sex worker named Leslie, whom he introduced to younger officers to help them "understand the communities they'd sworn to protect."
This doesn't sound like the type of project Ellison would allow to go through, which makes all the sense in the world as to why it's now shifted to Warner Bros.' indie division, Clockwork, which would be able to continue producing such movies on its own, without Ellison overseeing anything.
The film is set to star Hugh Jackman, while Hugh Grant and Owen Cooper are circling roles. Jack Thorne, who is red-hot these days thanks to his work on the acclaimed Netflix series "Adolescence.”