Full Circle

Dennis Hopper, who rode to counterculture glory by playing the coke-dealing cyclist in “Easy Rider” (1969)--which he also directed--will play a notorious federal drug informant in the HBO TV movie “Barry Seal.”

To begin filming in mid-November, with Roger Young writing and directing, the film is based on the real-life story of drug informant Adler (Barry) Seal, who was machine-gunned to death in Baton Rouge, La., in 1986 by three Colombians.

Calling Seal a “flamboyant character,” Hopper says the role is both “a great responsibility” and “a challenge.”

A pilot-turned-coke smuggler, whose undercover work led to federal charges against one of the leaders of the Medellin cocaine cartel, Seal had declined to enter the federal witness protection program.

“He was a thrill seeker . . . who, when he got caught, admitted he’d done wrong and said, ‘Let me try and work my way out of it,’ ” says Allen Epstein, who is executive producing with Jim Green.