It seems the aging, creaky wheels on the sequel that nobody is asking for to “Midnight Run” are moving forward.
Back in January it was announced that “Midnight Run 2” was in “mid-development,” but it appears Universal has given the production a boot in the pants as Deadline reports Tim Dowling (“Role Models” and the forthcoming Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston comedy “Just Go With It”) has been brought aboard to write the script. Robert De Niro, who is also producing, is confirmed to be reprising his role as Jack Walsh, an LA-based bounty hunter. The actor, who will be turning 67 this year, won’t be chasing down Charles Grodin this time around as he’s wisely moved on, pretty much retired from acting and is now a news anchor.
De Niro films “Dark Fields” with Bradley Cooper in May, and will be seen in “Machete” and the still untitled “Meet The Fockers” sequel later this year. God, we really hope “I Heard You Paint Houses” with Martin Scorsese happens soon.
As bad as this looks, it's The Playlist's 2/27 coverage of Richard Schickel's Vanity Fair story on the making of Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" that makes it almost understandable. My theory: making that masterpiece broke De Niro like Apocalypse Now broke Coppola, leaving him never the same since. Now he just wants a paycheck (though he turned down Edge of Darkness, makes you wonder what that took when Righteous Kill was do-able…). That article almost justifies his Rocky & Bullwinkle. But, yeah, we want him to do "I Heard You Paint Houses" with Martin Scorsese. It's time for a credibility comeback and it wouldn't hurt.
Whatever happened to Rober De Niro…?
I think it's his hotels and his sideline stuff that demands cash flow. For him, making a movie is like a normal person going to Sevs for cigarettes, right? Not a heavy decision – but it should be. He's not a special effects kind of actor. Why can't he have a pact with David Fincher, people like that? He can't be that crazy.