Cooper spent a decade working as an actor in film and television. starring
Jeff Bridges and
Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film, released by
Fox Searchlight Pictures, received widespread critical acclaim and a number of accolades, including the
Academy Awards for
Best Actor (Bridges) and
Best Original Song. Among
Crazy Heart's fans were director
Ridley Scott and producer
Michael Costigan, as well as executives at
Leonardo DiCaprio's production company,
Appian Way. Cooper was offered the opportunity to develop
The Low Dweller, a
spec script written by
Brad Ingelsby that had
DiCaprio and
Scott attached, as actor and director respectively. Cooper rewrote the script, drawing on his experience of growing up in
Appalachia and losing a sibling at a young age.
Relativity Media put the film, now titled
Out of the Furnace, into production in 2012, with
Christian Bale,
Woody Harrelson and
Casey Affleck leading the ensemble cast. Cooper directed the film, and shared writing credit with Ingelsby. DiCaprio and Scott remained as producers. In January 2014, Cooper became attached to rewrite and direct
Black Mass, a crime drama based the book of the same name by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, described as the "true story of
Billy Bulger,
Whitey Bulger, FBI agent
John Connolly and the FBI's witness protection program that was created by
J. Edgar Hoover."
Barry Levinson had previously been involved with the project.
Johnny Depp, who had been on and off the project for a number of years, came back on board to play the infamous Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger, alongside
Joel Edgerton as Connolly and
Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger. The film was released in 2015. In 2016, he sold his home in
Brentwood for $3.6 million and it was widely covered in the media. Cooper wrote, directed and produced the 2017 western
Hostiles, based on a decades old manuscript by the late screenwriter
Donald E. Stewart. The film reteamed Cooper with his
Out of the Furnace star, Bale, alongside
Rosamund Pike. It had its world premiere at the
Telluride Film Festival, with US distribution rights picked up by Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures. Critics praised the film's performances and visual storytelling. The
Hollywood Reporter highlighted Bale's "commanding performance" and Cooper's "painterly eye for landscapes," and
Miami New Times noted that Scott Cooper "has specialized in thoughtful, actor-driven, for-adults Hollywood genre fare." Cooper's next film was the supernatural horror story
Antlers, starring
Keri Russell and
Jesse Plemons and co-produced by
Guillermo del Toro, which was released in 2021. In January 2024 it was announced that Cooper would be writing and directing a film based on the making of
Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album
Nebraska. The film, titled
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, was based on the 2023 book written by
Warren Zanes, with the involvement of Springsteen and his manager
Jon Landau. In January 2026, it was announced that Cooper would write and direct a thriller based on the
Roswell, New Mexico incident for
20th Century Studios, reuniting with
Deliver Me from Nowhere producers Eric Robinson and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of Gotham Group.
Unreleased projects In 2019, it was announced Cooper would direct
Valhalla with
Christian Bale starring, as well as a film adapting
Jess Walter’s
Over Tumbled Graves. ==Influences==