THE MULE (2018) About The Director and Cast

Director and producer CLINT EASTWOOD (Earl Stone) and BRADLEY COOPER (Agent Colin Bates)

CLINT EASTWOOD (Earl Stone / Director / Producer) has been honored for his work as a filmmaker and actor. He most recently directed and produced "The 15:17 to Paris," and "Sully," starring Tom Hanks.

Prior to that, he directed and produced the searing real-life drama, "American Sniper," starring Bradley Cooper. The highest-grossing film of 2014, "American Sniper" was also one of the most acclaimed, receiving six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The film also brought Eastwood his fourth Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award nomination and a National Board of Review Award for Best Director.

A four-time Oscar winner, Eastwood won his first Oscars, for Best Director and Best Picture, for his 1992 Western "Unforgiven," which received a total of nine nominations, including one for Eastwood for Best Actor. Eastwood also won Golden Globe and DGA Awards for the film, which garnered Best Picture honors from several critics' groups.

In 2005, Eastwood won two more Oscars in the same categories for "Million Dollar Baby," again earning a Best Actor nomination for his performance in the film. He also won his second DGA Award and another Best Director Golden Globe, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for the film's score.

Eastwood has twice more earned dual Oscar nominations, in the categories of Best Director and Best Picture, for the dramatic thriller "Mystic River," for which he also garnered Golden Globe and DGA Award nominations, and the World War II drama "Letters from Iwo Jima," which won Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and received Best Picture Awards from a number of film critics groups. "Letters from Iwo Jima" was the companion film to Eastwood's widely praised drama "Flags of Our Fathers."

In 2008, Eastwood's "Changeling" received three Oscar nominations and Eastwood received BAFTA Award and London Film Critics Award nominations for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score. The film was also nominated for a Palme d'Or and won a Special Award when it premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. He had received three previous Palme d'Or nominations: for "White Hunter Black Heart," in 1990; "Bird," at the 1988 festival; and "Pale Rider," in 1985. He also won his first Best Director Golden Globe Award for "Bird." 14 In more recent years, Eastwood directed and produced the big-screen version of the Tony Award-winning musical "Jersey Boys," about the start of the 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. He also directed and produced the biographical drama "J. Edgar"; "Hereafter," which received Italy's David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Film; and the drama "Invictus," for which he won a National Board of Review Award and earned Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award nominations for Best Director. In addition, he starred in, directed and produced the hit "Gran Torino," for which he won a Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review.

Eastwood also directed and starred in such memorable films as "Blood Work," "Space Cowboys," "True Crime," "Absolute Power," "The Bridges of Madison County," "The Rookie," "Heartbreak Ridge," "Sudden Impact," "Honkytonk Man," "Firefox," "Bronco Billy," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "The Eiger Sanction," "High Plains Drifter," and "Play Misty for Me," which marked his directorial debut.

Eastwood first came to worldwide fame as an actor in such legendary Westerns as "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "Hang 'Em High," and "Two Mules for Sister Sara." His film acting work also includes "Kelly's Heroes," "Escape from Alcatraz," the "Dirty Harry" actioners, "Every Which Way But Loose," "Any Which Way You Can," "In the Line of Fire" and "Trouble with the Curve."

Over the course of his remarkable career, Eastwood has received a number of lifetime and career achievement honors, including the Motion Picture Academy's Irving Thalberg Memorial Award and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Cecil B. DeMille Award. He has also garnered tributes from the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, the American Film Institute, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the French Film Society, the National Board of Review, and the Henry Mancini Institute. He is also the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, the California Governor's Award for the Arts, and France's Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur.

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BRADLEY COOPER (Agent Colin Bates) is a four-time Oscar nominee who recently made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed film "A Star Is Born," which he also stars in, co-wrote and produced. His additional film credits include: Oscar-nominated films "American Sniper," "American Hustle" and "Silver Linings Playbook"; Derek Cianfrance's acclaimed "The Place Beyond the Pines"; "The Hangover" trilogy; "Limitless"; "Guardians of the Galaxy"; "War Dogs"; David O. Russell's "Joy"; "Burnt"; "Wedding Crashers"' and "Wet Hot American Summer." His television credits include: "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp," "Alias," "Nip/Tuck," "Kitchen Confidential," "Jack & Bobby" and "Sex and the City."

In 2015, Cooper garnered critical acclaim and a Tony nomination for his portrayal of John Merrick in the five-time Tony nominated revival of "The Elephant Man" at the Booth Theater on Broadway, directed by Scott Ellis. He also performed this role during a limited run of the play in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2015, and originally at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012, also directed by Ellis. His other theater credits include: Joe Mantello's production of "Three Days of Rain" in 2006, marking his Broadway debut, and the critically acclaimed Theresa Rebeck play "The Understudy" in 2008 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Born in Philadelphia, Cooper graduated with honors in the English program at Georgetown University. After moving to New York City, he obtained his Masters in the Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School.

Cooper has also been working to make a difference in the lives of patients with cancer through his Bradley Charles Cooper Foundation. When Cooper's father was diagnosed with lung cancer, he was in the fortunate position to be able to put everything on hold and completely focus on caring for his father. While doing so, he saw so many other patients who did not have access to the same supports that he had. Through launching patient navigator programs, working to shift perceptions, and exploring innovations in the field, the Foundation is aiming to improve patients' experience with cancer throughout their treatment. Cooper has been a longtime partner to Stand Up to Cancer and numerous veterans organizations throughout his career.