Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper are reportedly in talks to respectively play Col. John “Hannibal” Smith and Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck in Joe Carnahan’s adaptation of the “The A-Team,” TV show according to the Variety.
Cooper previously revealed his affiliations with the Tony and Ridley Scott produced project before futilely attempting to deny it. Neeson’s casting, however, comes completely from left field although it may be that, in search of a tough, experienced actor to lead their project, 20th Century Fox may have simply turned to the star of their sleeper hit “Taken.”
Neeson and Cooper’s casting leaves two roles left: B.A. Baracus and H.M. Murdoch. Actor slash rapper Common has previously talked with optimism about the prospect about stepping up to the role made famous by Mr. T while “Star Trek” star Chris Pine has revealed discussing the role of Murdoch with Carnahan. Thus far, their links to the project are relatively thin though it must also be noted that both actor have previously worked with Carnahan in “Smokin’ Aces.” Pine has even been cast a second time by the director in the now-defunct “White Jazz” which crippled after the young actor left to do ‘Trek’ with Carnahan’s blessing.
Interestingly, the two trades have conflicting credit for the script of the project. While Variety reports that Carnahan will direct from a Skip Woods (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) script revised by Carnahan and Brian Bloom, the Hollywood Reporter are of the opinion that the film’s script has come from “Wanted” scribes Derek Haas and Michael Brandt. IMDB evidences for the latter which, after ‘Wolverine,’ may be the lesser of the two evils.
Production is set to begin this August for a June 11, 2010 release. Let’s take this opportunity to remind Hollywood about the 1999, “The Mod Squad” remake which was a disastrous bomb no one wanted to see. Smells a lot like the same spirit.