Caffeinated Clint
Has Thomas Jane been fired from Walter Hill’s “Headshot”, the ’80s actioner throwback that would’ve teamed him with Sly Stallone?
Apparently.
Jane was to play a cop who teams up with a hitman (Stallone) to take out a mutual enemy in the New Orleans set thriller, which “48 Hours” director Hill recently signed on to direct (following Wayne Kramer’s departure).
Word from ‘Quint’ at Aint it Cool is that Dark Castle (that being Joel ‘Lethal Weapon’ Silver’s crowd) have decided they’d like someone more ‘ethnic’ to play opposite Stallone in the film.
Someone’s explained to Jane’s peeps that ‘the black-and-white duo works best in these kinds of movies’ – or so the returns on similar-themed films that Warner and/or Silver have been involved in (like “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, “Lethal Weapon” etc etc) and ‘as a consequence, you’re being replaced by [insert African American actor’s name here.]’
Yes, because “Cop Out” worked so fucking well, Joel.
Poor fuckin’ Thomas Jane. And I mean it. In order to maintain some integrity, and get some kind of say in the material he does, he’s missed out on some big opportunities over the years (a “Punisher” sequel, for instance, which he refused to do until the script was in better shape) and as a consequence, his cracker has really dipped in recent years. Thankfully he had the smarts to go to cable and do “Hung”, which was a really fun show, and he’s been working on his own projects, but film-wise… not much going on there. “Headshot” would’ve been terrific for Jane, a terrific bigscreen reprise that likely would’ve caught the attention of Hollywood. It’s a real shame that he’s not doing this.
Jane took to his Twitter account following the news and posted :
”Why, oh why did I have to be born white” and followed that statement up with a couple of other subtle jabs at the studio’s expense.
What’s Playing says the script for “Headshot” is actually quite fun, and they could see Jane being a large part of it’s eventual success.
Here’s the site’s summary from a few weeks back :
Jimmy Bobo (Stallone) and his partner Louis are cocky, proficient assassins (think Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction – they waffle on about anything and everything pre and post job; take killing all in stride). When the film opens the duo are sent to pop a congressman – who, of course, is mid-spank with a woman-for-hire half-his-age – and do so with ease.
We quickly discover Jimmy and Louis are ‘Okay’ – they’re only prepared to take out the person they’re paid to take out (Jimmy especially is “getting soft”).. and if you’re an innocent, pretty young thing, they’ll make sure you get out of a hothouse alive. Which is what happens.Officer Eric Carlisle (Jane), a workaholic tin man, hits the murder scene [of the congressman] – and quickly discovers that he’s not needed; when a high-ranking government official is murdered it’s the FBI’s terrain. He’ll, of course, get involved anyway.
Carlisle quickly gets another assignment – and again, related to our assassin pals. Hitman Louis is assassinated at a casino – by a square-jawed military man-type, Keegan. Jimmy, unfortunately, was in the John at the time.
Assassin and Cop meet for the first time at the morgue – Jimmy exiting after slapping some shiny now shoe’s on his late partner’s body.
It’s at a local bar that Jimmy and Carlisle meet formally and, upon realizing they can be of assistance to one another, reluctantly agree to partner up in the hunt for the bad guys. Oh, the bad guys? Fat pigs… politician types. with sharpshooters on their payroll. And tracks to cover.
As the flick progresses, Jimmy and Carlisle grow closer (of course) but not before some fun back-and-forth about what they should do with the killer/s when they catch him/them, some juvenile squabbling, uniting to interrogate some thugs and suspects (fun bathhouse scene – a’la Red Heat), and a fight over what music plays on the radio.
Things get serious when the villains discover Jimmy, who with Carlisle is being a real “nuisance”, has a daughter. You can guess the rest.
The finale should be a cool little sequence… all takes place at an abandoned power plant.It’s got your typical array of action-flick supporting characters – Garvey, the fat African-American captain; the slimy weezel shop kid who’ll rat on anyone for a few bucks; the hired goons we’ll all applaud when killed etc – a familiar plot and action beats (it’s rather reminiscent of say, Beverly Hills Cop, Hill’s own Red Heat and even Tango & Cash), and a couple of lead characters who have seemingly been lifted straight out of a buddy-cop movie from the ’80s… and whaddyaknow? it’s just great. Stallone really is determined to take us back to 1985 isn’t he!? Fine with me.
It was fine with me too… until they dumped Jane for Tyler Perry. Or Coolio. Oh please don’t tell me they’re thinking of bringing in Cuba!? They do like him down there in Louisiana!
