NEED TO KNOW
Will Arnett and Laura Dern play a couple on the verge of divorce in Bradley Cooper’s newest movie as director.
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, Cooper, 50, and Searchlight Pictures unveiled the first trailer for Is This Thing On? which features Arnett, 55, Dern, 58, and a supporting cast that includes Andra Day, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, Sean Hayes and his husband Scott Icenogle, Peyton Manning, Amy Sedaris and Cooper himself.
“As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene, while Tess (Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family — forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity and whether love can take a new form,” reads a synopsis for the movie.
Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald
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Is This Thing On? is Cooper’s third movie as a director. He directed and starred in the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro and 2018’s A Star Is Born.
Between those two films, his performances in Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle and producing work on Joker and Nightmare Alley, Cooper has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards since 2013, though he has yet to receive an Oscar win.
Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald
Arnett most recently appeared on the big screen in Taika Waititi’s 2023 sports comedy Next Goal Wins. Dern, meanwhile, most recently starred in the 2024 romantic drama Lonely Planet opposite Liam Hemsworth.
Is This Thing On? will make its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 10. The film then hits select theaters Dec. 19.
