Midnight Run is a classic anti-buddy film as well, wherein two characters definitely have antipathy for each other. Starring Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, much of the humor in the film comes from the difference between two stars.
Development on a sequel to the 1988 action-comedy road movie began in early 2010 when word came that Universal was working on a follow-up and that De Niro was actually keen to reprise his role as bounty hunter, Jack Walsh who has dreams of retirement, but instead gets stuck having to track down a chatty accountant named Jonathan ‘The Duke’ Mardukas, played by Grodin. Of course, Mardukas tries to convince Walsh to let him go, but Walsh refuses to give in, obsessively trying to beat the clock and complete the task.
The studio had initially hired Role Models co-writer Tim Dowling to write the draft, but now G. I. Joe / Four Brothers scribblers David Elliot and Paul Lovett have been brought in for a re-write.
And now Brett Ratner is in negotiations to direct Universal’s long-gestating Midnight Run sequel, with certain experience in buddy/anti-buddy comedies as the man behind the Rush Hour franchise.
I’m not conscious of when I have to start holding my breath as we recently heard that Ratner may be directing a film chronicling the rise of MTV.
However, Ratner is next set to direct Dwayne Johnson in MGM’s Hercules later this year.
It’s not clear if Grodin will return for the sequel as well.
Stay tuned.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OcChP6FbGk[/youtube]
