After a long wait of anticipation Warner Bros. has hired screenwriter Tim Dowling (Role Models) to rewrite a script for remake of Uptown Saturday Night with big names like Will Smith and Denzel Washington being considered to star; Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin is attached to direct/executive produce.
Variety reports that the film, picked up along the way back in 2002 by Warner Bros., specifically developed for Will Smith, will now be getting a fresh re-write courtesy of Tim Dowling. The film is a rework of the 1974 Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier comedy about a two pals who head uptown to track down the crooks who stole their winning lottery ticket.
It was one of the first comedies to feature two black leads; the film became a crossover commercial hit.Will Smith is still attached after all this time, and now Denzel Washington is being eyed as a potential co-star.
For those who don't know, the plot for the 1974 Cosby/Poitier bud-com took in the following:
Estranged friends Steve Jackson (Poitier) and Wardell Franklin(Cosby) sneak out of their houses to visit Madame Zenobia's: a high-class but illegal nightclub. During their visit, however, the place is robbed and they are forced to hand over their wallets. Steve's wallet turns out to have contained a winning lottery ticket, and together they go on a wild journey to recover their stolen property.
Tim Dowling was nominated one of Variety's 10 Screenwriters to Watch in 2010. Writer previously scribed the hit comedies Role Models and Just Go With It. After that, Dowling has added action to his resume, having written the upcoming Chris Pine-Tom Hardy movie This Means War, over and above a sequel to Midnight Run for Universal.
Dobkin's next feature is the Ryan Reynolds-Jason Bateman body-switching comedy The Change-Up, which Universal releases Aug. 5. He lately became attached to direct The Judge for WB, and works as a producer on the studio's fantasy epic Jack the Giant Killer.
We'll see what happens. Check out how Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby did it back in the 1974.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry97Nueni_c[/youtube]
Source: Variety
