Caffeinated Clint
Two classic blast-from-the-childhood TV faves are coming back, albeit to a much larger canvass. The previously-announced “Fall Guy”, a movie version of the ol’ Lee Majors and Heather Thomas series, looks like snagging Bond director Martin Campbell. Meanwhile, “Kung-Fu”, a big-screen take on the David Carradine series, has found it’s ‘master’ in actor cum director Bill Paxton (“Big Love”, “Aliens”).
Firstly, to “The Fall Guy”. Loved this show growing up. This one had such an impact on me (so much so I remember trying to emulate Lee Major’s stunts on the show; once I jumped off a barn roof and just about crunched my legs). I don’t know who they could get to replace Majors in the lead role, but I’m guessing they’ll go out to Jeremy Renner anyway. He is, after all, the go-to- man for anything at the moment. Need a fence painted? Jeremy Renner’s your man! Wife need a back massage!? Renner!
Deadline reports :
The film’s being developed by producer Walter Parkes. The series starred Lee Majors as a stuntman who worked as a bounty hunter on the side, and the movie’s being scripted by Thor and X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz. The project was initially set up at DreamWorks, but it’s unclear at the moment if the studio will be involved.
Deadline also has the news on “Kung-Fu”, which will be Paxton’s second stab at filmmaking following the criminally underseen “Fraility” and the sports drama “The Greatest Game Ever Played”. No word yet on whether or not Paxton will have an acting role in the film.
John McLaughlin will write the script. The film’s being put together under the Legendary Entertainment banner to shoot partly in China next summer. It is possible that this will come under Legendary East, the Hong Kong-based joint venture that involves Thomas Tull’s Legendary, but insiders said that hasn’t happened to this point.
