Sean Penn to direct January 6 Capitol assault film, Bradley Cooper in talks to star

Project takes shape

Sean Penn, the three-time Oscar winner, will write and direct a feature film centered on a police officer involved in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Bradley Cooper ("A Star Is Born", "American Sniper") is in negotiations to portray the officer, though no deal has been closed. The still-untitled project is set up at Warner Bros. under a "negative pickup" arrangement: the studio will buy the completed film at a fixed price while the producers at Penn's Projected Picture Works finance production themselves. Filming is expected to begin in mid-2027.

Historical backdrop

On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters, inflamed by his baseless claims of electoral fraud, attacked the Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden's victory. Several people died during the assault and in the hours that followed; many law enforcement officers were injured, some severely. Trump has never acknowledged his election loss and continues to describe the rioters as "patriots". Upon his return to the White House, he pardoned roughly 1,250 individuals convicted for the attack, commuted 14 other sentences, and ordered a halt to prosecutions of hundreds of accused still awaiting trial.

Penn's political engagement

A vocal left-wing critic of Trump, Penn attended the 2022 public hearings of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. He sat alongside Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, both of whom responded to the riot. Fanone later testified that he was "grabbed, beaten, and shocked with a taser, all while being called a traitor to my country." The assault caused him a heart attack. Asked by reporters about his presence at the hearings, Penn said he was there as "just another citizen" observing whether justice would be done.

I think we all saw what happened on January 6 and now we are waiting to see if justice will be done.

Sources close to the production describe the film not as a direct retelling of the riot but as a story about "unexpected friendships" in which the assault plays a defining role. Whether the protagonist is based on Fanone or another officer has not been confirmed.

Industry politics

The project lands at a Warner Bros. that is being acquired by Skydance Paramount in a $111 billion deal agreed in February. The combined studio will be led by David Ellison, whose family is known to have close ties to Donald Trump. Ellison recently attended a UFC event at the White House alongside the president. Despite the merger backdrop, Warner Bros. has already produced "One Battle After Another", the film that earned Penn his third Oscar earlier this year. Penn's representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment from AFP.