Although Tower Heist transformed from its “black Ocean’s 11” origins into a Ben Stiller movie—like the film equivalent of watching Robert Johnson metamorphose into John Mayer—Eddie Murphy still likes the concept of getting a bunch of funny black guys together so much that he’s begun writing that movie himself. In that same interview with Rolling Stone where Murphy declared he was now committed to only doing “edgy” stuff, like a TV continuation of Beverly Hills Cop, he also discussed his in-the-works screenplay Jamal And Tyrell And Omar And Brick And Michael’s Wack-Ass Weekend, which he describes as the story of a group of friends who get abducted by aliens on their way to a boxing match.
Murphy doesn’t say explicitly that rumored original Tower Heist stars like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Martin Lawrence would be involved in what could end up being the Harlem Nights/The Adventures Of Pluto Nash for a new generation, but at least four of those character names would seem to preclude the casting of, say, Matthew Broderick. Of course, in addition to having the most difficult title to remember since Martha Marcy May Marlene, Wack-Ass Weekend has a very similar, regular-guys-dealing-with-aliens plot as the also-developing Neighborhood Watch, another comic ensemble piece starring Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and, yep, Ben Stiller, which means Stiller could once again contribute to keeping the black man down. [via Moviehole]