Because we live in a world where there’s going to be a straight faced "MacGuyver" movie, and because studios want branded content, not "films," your Dad’s favorite TV show "Kojak," is headed to the big screen with Vin Diesel starring. Who loves ya baby!
But perhaps we shouldn’t write this off just yet, as "Skyfall" writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are going to put their billion dollar franchise pens to this thing. Yep, the ’70s show is going to be re-imagined and contemporized, because it worked so well for "Shaft." Ha, just kidding, but seriously, let’s hope they avoid going the gritty cop route and turning the character into just another cop, and keep up the playfulness that people liked so much to begin with. But then again, this is Vin Diesel whose range is…specialized. And please, no more villains letting themselves get captured as part of their master plan.
The project is set up at Universal, and if you don’t know what a Kojak is, find the closest parent or grandparent and they’ll let you know. We’re sure they’ll be stoked. [Deadline]
Wade and Purvis are the biggest hacks in the business. Their best Bond scripts – 'Casino Royale' and 'Skyfall' – were rewritten by others, and they only seem to have one story idea in their arsenal: 'traitor in their midst'. They only Bond scripts they wrote entirely themselves were 'soap opera Bond' and 'nadir Bond', and these guys are who you are banking on to save this film? Good luck.
Damn, Idris Elba would have made an amazing Kojak.