No stranger to elevating material that sounds dicey at best, Kristen Bell will soon be lending her one-woman charm offensive to another feature-film remake of an old TV show. But whereas normally an actor can just blame the people behind the camera when one of these rehashes turns out more Wild Wild West than 22 Jump Street, that easy out will be denied Bell: The Wrap reports she has signed on to appear in the upcoming adaptation of cop series CHiPs—a movie written, directed, and produced by, as well as starring, her husband Dax Shepard.
There’s no word yet of what role she’ll play in the film, beyond that of delightful actor that makes us all somewhat more likely to consider seeing this. CHiPs will star Shepard and Michel Peña as the California Highway Patrol officers who ride motorcycles and fight crime, in that order. Peña takes over the role of “Ponch” originated by Erik Estrada, while Shepard steps into Larry Wilcox’s shoes to play Jon Baker, even though it would immediately be more interesting if they switched characters. The rest of the cast includes Adam Brody, Rosa Salazar, and Vincent D’Onofrio, the last of whom plays the film’s villain, a task at which he’s been absolutely crushing it lately.
According to /Film, D’Onofrio is playing the head of an exotic car theft ring who “also happens to be a ruthless former cop,” which is called dramatic irony. Hopefully, either Shepard or Peña will get to say to him at some point, “You’ve changed, man. You used to be about the job.” Then D’Onofrio can pull out Bell, put a gun to her head, and say, “Now drop the weapons, or beloved and endearing actor Kristen Bell gets it!” That’s a plot twist freebie for you, Shepard.