Don Johnson is Back!

I can literally hear the Jan Hammer as I type this, but when I think Don Johnson, I think Sonny Crocket (and occasionally, the slightly less cool Nash Bridges). I know that Mr. Johnson has many other fine acting credits to his name, but I grew up in the '80s, what can you expect? But, it's not all white suit jackets and '71 Plymouth Barracuda's for Johnson any more. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the man will be getting back into the feature film game to star in Disney's romantic comedy When in Rome, and the indie feature, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

Rome stars Kristen Bell (TV's Veronica Mars) as a young American gal "who steals coins from an Italian fountain and finds herself receiving visits from numerous strangers who, having previously thrown coins into the fountain, are now in love with her." Johnson was offered the role by writer-director Mark Steven Johnson (no relation) to play Bell's dad, after a previous project between the two had fallen through. Then it's off to work on Orgy where Johnson will fill in as SNL's Jason Sudeikis' dad (I guess Johnson has finally reached the stage in his career where he is no longer the 'be-stubbled heartthrob' and more of a father figure).

Johnson's career has mainly been in television, but I guess even he has having trouble finding work on the small screen. Johnson told THR, "The climate has changed in that there's very few slots for dramas or for the things that I wanted to do," he said. "And I didn't want to do another cop show, though I would consider something if it were international in scope and global in nature." Translation: even I won't turn down a good paycheck. The last studio film for Johnson was back in 1996 when he co-starred in the underwhelming golf comedy, Tin Cup. But, Johnson has been steadily working in Europe ever since. Unfortunately for him, though, most of those flicks never made it to your local Blockbuster -- that is, unless they have a few copies of Lange Flate Ballær 2 lying around.