“Anchorman 2” director Adam McKay (“The Other Guys”, “Talladega Nights”) may have already found his next project.
According to Deadline, the filmmaker is in talks to direct “Uptown Saturday Night”, a remake of the 1974 Bill Cosby-Sidney Poitier comedy that’s being eyed as as starring vehicle for Will Smith and Denzel Washington. If both actors sign on for the film, it will serve as their first-ever on-screen pairing.
If all works out as planned, McKay would helm the film (the most recent draft of which was written by “Role Models” scribe Timothy Dowling) following the completion of the recently-announced Will Ferrell sequel, which is scheduled to being filming early next year for a release sometime in 2014.
Overbrook Entertainment, Smith’s production company with James Lassiter, has been developing the project since 2002.
The original “Uptown Saturday Night” starred Cosby and Poitier as two friends who must pursue a winning lottery ticket after the wallet containing it is stolen by thieves. It was followed by two similar films starring the duo, “Let’s Do It Again” (1975) and “A Piece of the Action” (1977).
Smith’s next film is the belated sci-fi sequel “Men in Black 3”, which hits theaters on May 25. Following that, he’s got a starring role opposite his son Jaden in M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth”, which is slated for release next summer.
As for Washington, his last film, the crime thriller “Safe House” opposite Ryan Reynolds, grossed over $200 million worldwide. His next appearance on the big screen will be in the plane crash drama “Flight” opposite Kely Reilly, John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood and Melissa Leo. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Do you think Smith and Washington would make for a good on-screen pairing? Would they be able to live up to Cosby and Poitier’s original chemistry? Sound off in the comments!