The A-Team Movie

[Nemeses]

Well, they're finally going to do it. The A-Team movie should be out next year, according to this article:

The A-Team Countdown Begins
Joal Ryan, eonline
21 hours ago

If you've been holding your breath for The A-Team movie, well, we feel sorry for you.

But help is on the way for you and your oxygen-deprived brain. So just hold on. Until June 12. Of next year. Feel better? You should, actually.

The release date, as reported by Variety, is the first for the long-discussed, long-suffering project.

John Singleton, who last yelled cut on Four Brothers, will direct; Michael Bandt and Derek Haas, who helped shoot the lights out with 3:10 to Yuma, are writing the screenplay.

As reported, the movie will follow the basic recipe of the 1983-87 TV series: Take four ex-military men; add one war crime they didn't commit; mix in chases, pursuits and more chases.

Given the source material, Singleton has promised an action movie, a serious action movie--"wall to wall kicking ass and talking s***," as he put it to Collider.com. The film presently is sans actors, A-list, B-team or otherwise, as Singleton himself has made very clear.

"I don't know who is in the cast yet, so all this b****** of who is saying who is this person and who is [this person]...," Singleton told Collider.com.

Singleton did allow that he "really, really want[s]" Woody Harrelson to play "Howling Mad" Murdoch, the sanity challenged pilot given life on the TV series by Dwight Schultz.

In the interview, conducted in January, Singleton sounded a lot like a man who's been a little bit hounded by fans demanding to know who's going to play Mr. T.

"Nobody is playing Mr. T--the character's name is B.A. Baracus," the filmmaker reminded.

And, no, before you bother Mr. Singleton again, B.A. Baracus hasn't been cast yet, either. Ice Cube, however, has thrown his mohawk into the ring.

"Hell yeah," the Barbershop multi-tasker recently told blackfilm.com when asked if he'd consider copping a "Bad Attitude," as it were, "especially with John Singleton directing!"

And, yes, we know Ice Cube doesn't really have a mohawk to throw into a ring. But that could change.

"I wouldn't try to duplicate what Mr. T did...," he told the Website. "I'm going to bring my own flavor to it, and I am going to do the mohawk."

The race seems wide open for the roles of Col. "Hannibal" Smith, the ringleader, and "Face" Peck, the master of disguise, played on the TV series by the late George Peppard and the still-plugging-away Dirk Benedict, respectively.

Even with the cast undetermined, an announced director and a release date marks the furthest along the movie has gotten since the project started raising hopes nearly 10 years ago amid a spate of TV-to-film conversions, a la Charlie's Angels, The Mod Squad and Wild Wild West. Per the calendar keepers at the Internet Movie Database, on June 12, 2009, the big-screen A-Team will go head-to-head with an Eddie Murphy comedy called NowhereLand. Which is about where The A-Team movie used to live.

I didn't really watch The A-Team much when it was a weekly tv series, though I'd catch it now and then. But when TVland started airing it daily a few years ago, I did start enjoying it then, and as with many women, Dirk Benedict's character was my favorite.

However, this movie based on the series is one I already know I won't be going to any theater to see, although out of mild curiousity I'll probably watch it when it finally comes out on tv sometime in a couple of years or so. The reason is because I don't want to see the show transformed into the ridiculous treatment of trash that passes for action movie entertainment today... i.e. gratuitous blood and gore, obscenity-laden dialogue that's apparently supposed to be 'cool' and modern. Sorry, but if I were to hear that kind of language coming out of the mouths of what's supposed to be Face, Murdoch, B.A., or Hannibal, I'd be so disgusted I'd be in a bad mood for days. And that's what it sounds like they're preparing to do with the it -- "wall to wall kicking ass and talking s***." Obviously these guys don't understand that a movie can be made and do well without obscenity and graphic blood and gore.

Aside from that... Woody Harrelson as Murdoch possibly? Sorry, that baloon doesn't fly. Ice Cube as B.A.? Isn't Ice Cube a small or regular sized guy? And I can't imagine any actor today who has the easy natural charm that was Dirk Benedict for Face. Hannibal, I'm no so picky on, but the others... sorry, I'd rather remember those characters as portrayed by the original actors.

[Google]

 

[Nemeses]

I thought for sure we'd have heard from Krom on this by now.

[ClosetRTWatcher]

I can't say I have high hopes for this one. My husband is a fan of A-Team reruns, so much so that we have bought a couple of seasons on DVD (and will probably get a couple more in the future). I also enjoy the show for its silly aspects. I do have a hard time picturing Woody Harrelson playing Murdoch, but I would probably have trouble picturing anyone in that role! As for Ice Cube, I think he's a talented actor that might be able to pull off BA.

The best part about the show is the "cheekiness" of it. The characters don't take themselves too seriously and the action is over-the-top and completely cheesy. I'm afraid from this description that they are going to try to make it a "serious" action movie, which IMO would be the wrong way to approach it. With this one I will probably hope for the best, but expect the worst.

[myrosiedog]

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

We say this to this day in our house. Used to LOVE the A-team. Not so sure about a movie though. Most movies based on TV Series have well, um, in a word, sucked so far.

[Florimel]

Nemeses, I'm in complete agreement with your assessment and particularly with the named character choices. Woody Harrelson replacing Dwight Schultz? I don't think so. I'd rather see a Samuel L. Jackson take on B.A. rather than a would-be actor/rapper. I'm not sure who could do justice to Face today. You couldn't help but fall under Dirk Benedict's charm. Maybe Nathan Filion. I'd have to think more about that and also about Hannibal.

I did enjoy the TV show and might or might not rent the DVD when it comes out depending on what I hear about it after it's actually been made and released. It might be one of those that goes straight to DVD.

[Nemeses]

Originally Posted by Florimel

I'm not sure who could do justice to Face today. You couldn't help but fall under Dirk Benedict's charm.

Oh, I am so with you there, Florimel. It's such a fine line between charm and obnoxious, that I can only think of a handful of actors over the years who've pulled it off. And Dirk Benedict just seemed to do it so effortlessly. It was sad that he died so young.

I had such a huge crush on him beginning with him as Starbuck. Actually I had a huge crush on both Starbuck and Apollo - both Dirk and Richard Hatch just oozed charm and charisma.


Speaking of the B.A. Barracus character, I can't help but wonder what Mr. T thinks of all this. He always worked very hard to keep his characters good role models for kids, in fact, it was part of the on-screen character. So I have to wonder how he feels about their plans for this reincarnation.

[AJane]

Um...Dirk Benedict is still very much alive. His IMDB profile says that he did indeed have prostate cancer in the '70's, but apparently he somehow cured himself with a macrobiotic diet. He's still a working actor, though I'm not familiar with any of the shows he's done in recent years.

[Florimel]

I think Nemeses might have been thinking of Dirk Rambo, who did die in a road accident at the age of 26, or possibly his twin brother Dack Rambo, who died at 52 from complications of AIDS. They were very handsome and not too dissimilar in looks from Dirk Benedict.

[ClosetRTWatcher]

Originally Posted by Nemeses

I had such a huge crush on him beginning with him as Starbuck. Actually I had a huge crush on both Starbuck and Apollo - both Dirk and Richard Hatch just oozed charm and charisma.

I am such a dork! We actually have the original Battlestar Galactica series on DVD, and I somehow never noticed that the same actor played Starbuck and Face!!