Martin Campbell didn’t exactly have the easiest summer – the man behind Casino Royale was widely considered to have stumbled with Green Lantern. So he could be forgiven for treating any script adapted from another source like it’s a mouldering zombie for a while. All credit to him, then, that it appears he’s considering an even riskier proposition: turning ‘80s action TV show The Fall Guy into a film.
As of right now, Campbell is simply in talks to tackle the script, which is being written by Thor/X-Men: First Class contributors Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz and overseen by producer Walter Parkes.
The Fall Guy, which ran between 1981 and 1985 starred Lee Majors as Colt Seavers, a film stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter when film jobs dry up. In a warped way, you could see it as a sort of spiritual ancestor of Drive (think about it!), and usually involved Majors getting into fights or driving fast cars.
Turning ‘80s shows into movies hasn’t had the best track record (The A-Team failed to make much of an impact despite a respectable cast and a proven action director in Joe Carnahan). But maybe this one will mesh more with Campbell sensibilities than the FX overload of the Lantern…