The Rockford Files and It Takes A Thief join their fellow old action shows in getting movie updates
Reaffirming that every old action show is destined to live again (not so fast, Street Hawk), big-screen remakes of The Rockford Files and It Takes A Thief are edging ever closer to joining the yellowing TV Guide that is the modern box office. As we first relayed last year, Vince Vaughn is both producing and starring in the Rockford update, with Vaughn taking over the James Garner role of a downtrodden P.I. who prefers talking his way out of trouble, and bringing his own talent for just talking and talking, until you surrender yourself to be arrested or killed, whichever.
Now The Hollywood Reporter notes that the film has brought aboard Nic Pizzolatto, the novelist turned screenwriter who most recently created (the awesome-looking) True Detective for HBO. And much as that show promises some pretty un-chill situations for Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, this new Rockford Files may well find Vaughn gabbing his way through some incredibly dark cases. It's also possible his signature answering machine messages will all be variations on, “Hey Jim. Just calling to remind you of man’s endless capacity for evil…”
Meanwhile, Variety reports that Universal has begun developing a movie version of It Takes A Thief, the late-’60s spy series in which Robert Wagner played a master cat burglar who’s recruited by the government to steal, primarily by squirreling things away in his dashing turtlenecks. The latest draft is in the hands of Greg Russo, a screenwriter with several other thrillers currently in development (the Michael Bay-produced Heatseekers, the comic-book adaptation Continuum) who will be asked to tell a story about our modern intelligence agencies resorting to underhanded means, using his imagination.
Both films will join The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Fall Guy, and The Equalizer movies, as well as the Remington Steele and Murder She Wrote TV updates, in making people over the age of 30 say, “Oh, right… I remember that show, I guess. Was that the one with Buddy Ebsen?" Which, no, you're thinking of Barnaby Jones. But just give it time.