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Posts tagged as “Damon Wayans”

Damon Wayans to Star in "Lethal Weapon" TV Pilot at Fox

By goodblacknews on February 12, 2016
Damonwayans
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com
After lengthy negotiations, Fox and Warner Bros. TV have closed a pilot-order deal for Lethal Weapon, an hourlong series based on the buddy cop action comedy movies that starred Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh. In Living Color alum Damon Wayans is set to play Murtaugh in the remake, with Charlie’s Angels helmer McG set to direct the pilot for Warner Bros. TV. The Riggs role has not been cast yet.
Written by former Chuck executive producer and Forever creator Matt Miller, Lethal Weapon, like WBTV’s Rush Hour series for CBS, is a relatively straight remake featuring the movies’ central characters.
lethal_weaponThe feature franchise kicked off with Homicide Sgt. Murtaugh (Glover), who recently celebrated his 50th birthday, being partnered with the suicidal and highly volatile ex-U.S. Army Special Forces soldier-turned-LAPD Narcotics Sgt. Riggs (Gibson), who had been reassigned to homicide after a psychotic episode on the job as he deals with grief following the death of his wife.

In the series, when Texas cop and former Navy SEAL Riggs suffers the loss of his wife and baby, he moves to Los Angeles to start anew. There, he is partnered with LAPD detective Murtaugh (Wayans), who, having recently suffered a “minor” heart attack, must avoid stress in his life.

The original 1987 Lethal Weapon movie, written by Shane Black and directed by Richard Donner, was a breakout hit, grossing $120 million on a $12 million budget. It spawned a formidable franchise with three sequels and helped established the comedic action buddy cop genre, influencing such hit follow-up entries as Rush Hour and Bad Boys. 

To read more, go to: http://deadline.com/2016/02/lethal-weapon-pilot-damon-wayans-star-mcg-direct-fox-1201701545/

Forest Whitaker To Direct Long-Stalled Richard Pryor Biopic

By goodblacknews on March 29, 2013

Forest Whitaker takes his daughters shopping at Urban Outfitters in Studio City, California on March 17, 2013
The long-gestating Richard Pryor biopic is starting over from scratch with Forest Whitaker now in charge.
Fresh from producing the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner “Fruitvale,” Whitaker has taken over the nearly two-decade effort to bring the legendary comic’s life of the big screen, reports Deadline.com.
Whitaker is teaming with the late comic’s widow, Jennifer Pryor, to produce the film through his Significant Productions shingle. Whitaker will develop a new script with input from Jennifer Pryor, and Significant Productions’ Nina Yang-Bongiovi, will also produce.
The Pryor biopic has been attempted numerous times, and the most recent version had Bill Condon poised to direct Marlon Wayans in the starring role for Sony Pictures, where Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison had set the project. Condon was certainly passionate about Pryor, but everything took a back seat when he signed on to helm the final two “Twilight Saga” installments. The project languished.
The first Pryor project was a Martin Scorsese-directed drama to star Damon Wayans, this well before Pryor died in 2005. Later, there was a Showtime pic that was to star Eddie Griffin and another attempt at a feature that was to star Mike Epps with Kasi Lemmons directing.
Condon’s first flirtation had Eddie Murphy briefly interested, and then Chris Rock was briefly in the conversation.
The question now is, who will be Whitaker’s Richard Pryor?  Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming Jr. thinks he should look no further than his “Fruitvale” star, Michael B. Jordan, “who by all accounts crushed it in that film.”
Fleming writes: “Jordan, who grew up playing roles in ‘The Wire’ and ‘Friday Night Lights’ before starring in ‘Chronicle,’ certainly has the charisma and should be established enough as the lead on a modestly budgeted film after The Weinstein Company releases ‘Fruitvale’ later this year.”
article via eurweb.com