'The A-Team,' Matt Damon and 'Lara Croft' all in Everyday Hero headlines
Welcome to a winter's day version of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....
"A-TEAM" GOES TO PLAN B: Way back in August, I sat down with Ice Cube and heard how eager he was to work with Bruce Willis in a remake of "The A-Team" being directed by John Singleton. But the rapper/actor/producer was worried that the writers strike might undermine the effort. Looks like it did, because now Singleton is out and the project is moving forward with a new team that may or may not be interested in Cube taking on the challenge of replacing Mr. T in the role of B.A. Baracus. In the trades today, Michael Fleming has an informative update on the revamped project: "Twentieth Century Fox has assembled a creative team to transform 1980s TV series 'The A-Team' into a summer 2010 film. Studio has set Joe Carnahan to direct and Ridley Scott to produce, with Tony Scott exec producing through their Scott Free banner. Also producing are Jules Daly and Stephen J. Cannell, the latter of whom created the original TV series. Carnahan will team with Brian Bloom to polish a script by Skip Woods ('G.I. Joe'). The intention is to start production by June for a June 11, 2010, release. Fox has struggled to find a way to exploit the branded TV show while avoiding the series' campy tone. Director John Singleton had most recently been attached to such an attempt before dropping out. Woods came in and started over. 'Tony and I feel that marrying this Scott Free project with Joe's sensibility will result in a fast-paced, exciting franchise, one we hope will be around for years to come,' Scott said. 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." [Daily Variety]
JASON BOURNE AND JAMES BOND, IT'S ON!: It's spy vs. spy as Matt Damon (who will be seen later this year in the Paul Greengrass film "Green Zone"), who portrays amnesiac super agent Jason Bourne, talks smack (and it's not the first time) about a certain old-school British agent with the same initials: "Matt Damon has lashed out at Ian Fleming's famous British spy, James Bond, currently portrayed by Daniel Craig. 'The Bourne Identity' actor -- who plays CIA agent Jason Bourne in three hit films -- said: 'He's repulsive. Bond is an imperialist, misogynist, sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. The movies have a formula, they stick to it, and it makes them a lot of money. They know what they are doing and they're going to keep doing it.'" [Stuff]
GOING BACK TO THE "TOMB": In a perfect summary of everything Hollywood is about these days, there's a the story in the trades today about a major studio remaking an eight-year-old film that was based on a video game. Here's what Steven Zeitchik writes: "Warner Bros. and producer Dan Lin are in early development on a a reboot of 'Tomb Raider,' the popular video game action franchise. 'Tomb Raider,' which was published in 1996 by a London-based video game company called Eidos, was a wildly popular game that involved the daredevil archaeologist Lara Croft on a series of global missions. Several spin-off games have been published since, with a 10th-anniversary edition of the game released in 2006. Paramount previously made the two movies based on the game, but the rights have since reverted to Eidos. When Time Warner upped its stake to 19.92% in Eidos in December, films rights to the property were included as part of the deal. Lin will produce the project via his Lin Pictures banner while Stephen Gilchrist will co-produce; Ian Livingstone of Eidos will exec produce. Matt Reilly is overseeing for Warners. Lin is the producer behind Warners' upcoming Guy Ritchie-directed update of 'Sherlock Holmes' and the adventure film 'Jonny Quest.' The new project, however, is expected to revamp the character and her mission and bear little resemblance to the original pictures. It will reimagine the origins of the character, her love interest and the main villain. As an open-writing assignment, the project is still in its nascent stages. An actress who could play the role Angelina Jolie made famous would likely come on after a writer and director are attached." [Hollywood Reporter]...Oh, and what about those rumors of the nubile Megan Fox as Croft? So far, they're just that.
ON THIS DATE: It was on Jan. 28, 1958 that the modern Lego brick was patented, ushering in the famously simple but extraordinarily versatile toy system. The path to the brick began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who started crafting wooden toys in 1932 and dubbed his company "Lego" in 1934. It was his son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, who locked in on the idea of a brick-building system and, well, the rest is history. Now there are "Star Wars" Legos, Batman Legos, Indiana Jones Legos, and the list goes on and on and on ... To celebrate this historic day, let's all enjoy the White Stripes and then engage in hours of safe creative play....
Thanks for reading, keep checking back...
-- Geoff Boucher
CREDIT: "Green Zone" photo by Jasin Boland\Universal Pictures. "Tomb Raider" photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Ice Cube talks 'A-Team'
There are some TV-show remakes that work beyond your wildest dreams (who knew that “Battlestar Galactica” could be “The Sopranos” of science-fiction?) and others just make you wonder how many Hollywood executives got fired (“Bewitched” and “The Mod Squad” spring to mind). Here’s one that just sounds great, at least to me: Director John Singleton wants to take on the Reagan-era show “A-Team” and update it, making the fugitive commando team all veterans of the war in Iraq.
The grizzled Bruce Willis is in mind for the role of Col. Hannibal Smith (portrayed by George Peppard in the old NBC series) while Woody Harrelson would be wingnut pilot “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock (played by scene-stealer Dwight Shultz in the original). And what about the role of the scowling Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus, made famous by the gold-laden Mr. T?
The answer is clear, at least according to Ice Cube, the rap icon and Hollywood heavyweight.
“Man, I am so ready to play ‘B.A.’ Baracus. I was a big, big Mr. T fan. I mean, c’mon, Clubber Lang [in “Rocky III”) was amazing. I even watched his Saturday morning show, but that was cheesy. I was like everybody else, I watched it for about six weeks and said, ‘Man this isn’t any good.’ But the 'A-Team,' I would love for this to happen.”
Cube told me all this earlier today when I dropped by a bunker-like studio near the Burbank airport where we talked about the 20th anniversary of "Straight Outta Compton" for an upcoming article in The Times. Eventually, the subject eventually turned to his upcoming film plans -- or should I say his lack of upcoming plans. Like everyone in Hollywood right now, Cube is in a holding pattern with the threatened Screen Actors Guild strike.
"Everything is in limbo," said the 39-year-old star, but he added that his movie priority would be working again with Singleton and making the A-Team a gritty new action film. “I really want it to happen and it’s the thing we’ve been talking about lately, the thing on the other side of the strike or no-strike. I think it could be great. I always look at how they did ‘Mission: Impossible’ and even how they upgraded Batman from what it was not that long ago. The key is the story and the director.”
It's interesting to think back to the sneering thug that Cube played in his breakout role as Doughboy in Singleton's searing 1991 film "Boyz N the Hood." How much of his mad-dog stare was borrowed from his mohawked hero?
I'm guessing that "A-Team" films moves forward because Hollywood dearly loves projects with nostalgic titles, high-concept plots and a few layers of cinematic credibility; Singleton's presence would bring the latter and give the project a sort of "Three Kings" for the homefront feel. So the next big question: Will Cube's bad-attitude commando actually show up on screen wearing gold chains by the pound?
“I don’t know about that," Cube said, chuckling. "But, you know maybe at the end after they get all the money. I could walk out and look at the other guys and say, ‘What do you think, y’all like this look?' We could play it for fun.”
-- Geoff Boucher
Photo: Ice Cube; Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times Photo of the NBC show "The A-Team," cast members Dirk Benedict, Mr. T and George Peppard, from the Los Angeles Times archive.
