Joe Carnahan Zeroes in on 'The A-Team'

by Monika Bartyzel Jan 28th 2009 // 10:02AM

Filed under: Action, Deals, Remakes and Sequels

Things didn't look good for that big-screen version of The A-Team back in October when even more rewrites were being planned and John Singleton had backed out as director due to casting issues. But now things are back on track, and maybe this time we'll get beyond the directorial phase as The Hollywood Reporter posts that Smokin' Joe Carnahan is in negotiations to helm the feature.

As THR notes, Carnahan's schedule lightened up a whole bunch after White Jazz ran into money and casting issues, and Reese Witherspoon dropped out of Bunny Lake is Missing. So either this is the break in his bad luck, or yet another example of how doomed this project is.

As director, I'm sure he'll do fine, but as always, this all comes down to the cast. As much as I love George Peppard, Dwight Schultz, and Dirk Benedict, their roles are fairly replaceable -- there are many actors in Hollywood who can look slick chewing a cigar while cooking up schemes, be wacky, or a slick and sexy con man. But Bad Attitude Baracus, Mr. T, he's pretty much impossible to replace. Go for someone who makes the character completely different, then it's simply not the A-Team. Get someone who channels Mr. T's pity-the-foo quirks, and they'll never live up to the icon.

I say: Let Mr. T continue to be B.A., and then look towards some new talent. Any ideas?

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Tags: Cinematical, featured, Joe Carnahan, JoeCarnahan, The A-Team, TheA-team

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