Caffeinated Clint
Now this should be sweeter than bubblegum flavoured chocolate-chipped ice-cream cake!
Joe Carnahan (“Smokin’ Aces”) is set to direct Fox’s “The A-Team” – and that’s only half the news! Ridley Scott will produce & Tony Scott will executive produce! Is that a wet-pants team or what!?
Carnahan and Brian Bloom (yes, the actor; you’ll recall he had a part in Carnahan’s “Smokin’ Aces”) will polish Skip Woods’ script. The intention is to start production by June for a June 11, 2010, release.
Carnahan and the Scott brothers say they will use the original premise of the series as the template for an action film. In the original, four Vietnam vets convicted of armed robbery escape from military prison and became do-gooder mercenaries.
The Middle East will replace Vietnam as the place the four did their tour of duty, but Carnahan said the origin story is the jumping-off point.
“You can … make a film that reflects on the real world without losing the great sense of fun and the velocity of action in a classic summer popcorn film,” Carnahan said.
As a consequence of getting “The A-Team” gig, Carnahan has putted his long-gestating “Killing Pablo” on the back-burner.
The project was complicated by the bankruptcy filing made by the Yari Film Group.
“I am determined to make that movie there or elsewhere, but it’s an interesting time in Hollywood, and you have to be aware when you get the opportunity to step into a business model that is working,” Carnahan said, noting that many of the top-grossing studio films are based on branded properties.
“This was a coveted property, and reimagining a show that I remembered as a kid was tough to turn down,” Carnahan said. “Fox hired me to make it as emotional, real and accessible as possible without cheesing it up.”
Though Bruce Willis has always been the favourite to play cigar-chomping Hannibal Smith, and Ice Cube’s said to be a fave to bring the new B.A Bararcus to life, it’s likely Carnahan will want to bring in some of his frequent collaborators into the mix (Ryan Reynolds as Face, maybe?)
Variety has more.
