NEW YORK — Sean Penn will direct a movie about a police officer who was at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021, Warner Bros. announced Tuesday.

Following his Oscar-winning performance in “One Battle After Another,” Penn will direct the as-yet untitled film from his own script. Bradley Cooper is in talks to star, though no deal has been finalized.

Representatives for Penn and Warner Bros. didn’t comment Tuesday on the movie’s protagonist but said he’s based on a real person.

When Penn attended the 2022 hearings of the House Select Committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol, he sat between Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, both of whom responded to the attacks.

Fanone testified that he rushed to the scene and was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” The assault, which stopped only when he said he had children, caused him to have a heart attack. Hodges also testified about his harrowing experience.

At the hearings, Penn said he was attending as “just another citizen” to observe and see if justice would be served.

The film is described as being about “an unexpected friendship.” Production is expected to start mid-2027.

The movie’s announcement comes just days after the U.S. Justice Department said it will not challenge Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The $111 billion deal, agreed to in February, will put the Warner Bros. film studio under the control of David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive.

Ellison and his father, the Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have strong ties to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, Ellison attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House.

“One Battle After Another,” hailed as a timely political film, won best picture at the Academy Awards in March. Penn won his third Oscar for playing racist military zealot Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, but skipped the ceremony to instead visit Ukraine.

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NEW YORK — Tom Holland has apparently confirmed that he and his longtime love Zendaya have already tied the knot.

The actor may have ended months of speculation triggered by Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach’s claim in March that the couple had already held a wedding. In a very 2026 twist, artificial intelligence played a role in the reveal.

When Holland was asked by Esquire U.K. whether he had to inform family members about AI images that appear to show him and Zendaya at their wedding, the actor replied, “No, because they were all there.”

“That’s all you’ll get on that,” he said of the matter.

Elsewhere, in the story published Tuesday, Holland gushed about how the couple supported each other behind the camera.

“Our business can present very stressful situations and it’s really nice to have a bedrock of a relationship that will stand the test of time,” he said.

“So, for me, I found my person. She’s my best friend, and I’m the happiest I ever have been when I’m with her, but I also have never felt so supported and safe, ever. Period.”

Holland and Zendaya first met when they co-starred in the 2017 movie “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” They star together in big movies this summer: “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

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LONDON — Singer Bonnie Tyler is no longer in a coma but remains “very unwell” in intensive care, an update on her official website says.

The gravelly voiced, Grammy-nominated pop star, 75, was hospitalized last month on Faro, Portugal, where she lives, for emergency intestinal surgery. She was later placed in an induced coma.

She is no longer in a coma and “although her condition is improving it is a slow process. Her doctors remain confident that she will make a good recovery but it is going to take time,” the statement posted Monday said.

Tyler shows scheduled through August were canceled or postponed, but “we are still hopeful that our shows in the autumn will go ahead,” the statement said.

Tyler is best known for the chart-topping 1980s power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” an irresistibly bombastic karaoke favorite that gains new fans every time there is a solar or lunar eclipse.

The coal miner’s daughter from Wales had an earlier hit in 1978 with “It’s a Heartache” before winning a place in pop history with “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” written by Meat Loaf's producer and songwriter, Jim Steinman.

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By Associated Press