A-TEAM director comes from the Hood?
Posted by Matt Holmes
Both IESB and Latino Review have heard from seemingly two different sources that 20th Century Fox have a director in mind for their big screen return of THE A-TEAM.
His name is John Singleton, the talented but not always good director who brought us BOYZ IN THE HOOD, SHAFT, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS and FOUR BROTHERS.
Updating the original series for modern audiences, the group will now be Gulf War veterans as opposed to Vietnam vets and will now tackle social and political issues, most likely terroism. Fox see this as a big potential franchise and possibly their answer to Paramount’s 80’s nostalgic team-up movie G.I. JOE.
THE A-TEAM of course ran for five seasons between 1983 and 1987, beaming out just short of 100 episodes (all of which stuck to the exact rigid formula) and are memorable for their very distinct theme tune, outlandish action scenes, big guns and over the top no nonsense characters like B.A. Baracus (Mr. T) and “Howling Mad” Murdock (Dwight Schulz). The series also starred Dirk Benedict and the late George Peppard.
A big screen movie adaptation has long been in development hell for Fox who have seen much potential revenue in the recent spurge of 80’s movies coming back to the big screen recently and remarkably still, THE A-TEAM merchandise and catchphrases can still be seen and heard from 20 and 30 year old men.
THE A-TEAM was recently part of U.K. funnyman Justin Lee Collins attempt to reunite the original cast for the first time in twenty years, the first part of which I have uploaded below (the other one’s you can easily find on Youtube, if in interests you)…
He’s doing “bring back STAR WARS” next, which should be fun.
Anyway, Singleton is a director capable of extraordinary work (BOYZ IN THE HOOD) but he can also bring that studio ‘popcorn’ vehicle that is sometimes needed like 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS and FOUR BROTHERS. If you asked me ten years ago whether Singleton was the right man for this, I would have laughed in your face and said he was WAY to good for this project but his recent filmography suggests he might be the guy for this after all.
Hell, he’s already remade the 70’s character SHAFT.
Good or bad news?
This one won’t be coming together until after the strike is over (although I believe they do have a script already) and will likely be a big budget movie, possibly as much as $100 million.
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Singleton, huh? It could be good. If the script is strong and not 80’s-schticky. It would also help if Singleton pulled his talented head out of his trendy @$$ and started making movies based on strong storytelling instead of flashy camera moves and whatever Singleton thinks is cute.
This film seems to be right up Singleton’s alley especially since his direction of 2 Fast 2 Furious so i would say good news.
clooney = hannibal
pitt= face
carrey = murdock
michael clark duncan = b.a. baracus
Damn good list Rob. My choice for BA Baracus would be Terry Crews though, with Scott Bakula as Face.
This movie’s got real potential. But how much do you want to bet that Singleton’s penchant for only casting folks he’s friends with will drive him to put Marky Mark in it? And no doubt some no-name Brit actor as Hannibal because Singelton’s too dumb to know better.
Damn I hope somebody reigns him in.