Released in 1974, Uptown Saturday Night told the story of two blue collar dudes played by Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier who get robbed at an uptown night club, only to find out one of them had a winning lottery ticket in his wallet. They go on a chase to get it back, wackiness ensues. Now Anchorman director Adam McKay is in negotiations to direct a remake, starring Denzel Washington and Will Smith, which seems silly because Bow Wow and Ice Cube already remade this movie and it was called Lottery Ticket.
Overbrook Entertainment has been developing the project. Tim Dowling wrote the most recent draft.
The idea is for McKay to helm the film after he completes a sequel to Anchorman, the Will Ferrell-starrer that Paramount has set for an early 2013 start and 2014 release.
There are plenty of remakes that elicit groans. If this package comes together (Smith and Washington have long wanted to work together), with McKay’s comic sensibility, this redo could be exceptional. The original cast was lined with the likes of Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson and Richard Pryor, and the remake could follow suit by star-casting the supporting roles. [Deadline]
Yes, that’s one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that squeaky clean Will Smith wouldn’t even do Quentin Tarantino’s movie, and if his production company is the one writing and developing this, I have hard time imagining it being anything but incredibly milquetoast. Not to mention, all of Adam McKay’s movies so far have leaned heavily on the improv skills of people like Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who are basically the best in the world at improv, whereas Denzel Washington and Will Smith are actors who are kind of funny sometimes. And this is neither here nor there, but I really wish there was an Urban Dictionary definition for a “Harry Belafonte.”
Hairy Belafonte is Kimbo Slice’s porn name.
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