The latest from the set of the A-Team movie is this fluff piece from Entertainment Tonight.  Rampage Jackson is one of the funniest, most charismatic athletes I’ve ever seen, and is always riding that line between hilarious and completely insane.  He’s basically the Tracy Morgan of MMA. I’d watch a reality show about him in a heartbeat.  But can he act?  This clip gives us a very small taste of it — once the host wearing the sensible v-neck gets through asking Brad Cooper about his diet regimen, anyway.  All Rampage says is “Damn fools!” and “Shut up, Murdock!” but it appears he’ll more or less be doing a Mr. T impression.  Anyway, gotta love Entertainment Tonight, the show for the neutered male.  Gee, I wonder what would’ve happened if they’d sent a female reporter.  I can just imagine how that would go down… (*scratches chin*) Slow zoom, DISSOLVE TO:

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Courtesy of Buzzfeed and TheDailyMail, here’s a rundown of the cast of Joe Carnahan’s A-Team, and a side-by-side comparison of the new and original actors.  Above is of course Rampage Jackson as B.A. Baracus, originally played by Mr. T.  And here I thought he’d cut his hair like that to support Kimbo. Also starring:

Brad Cooper as ‘Faceman’ Peck, originally played by Dirk Benedict.  Ironically, ‘Dirk Benedict’ is actually a way better name for a character in an action movie.

Liam Neeson as Hannibal, originally played by George Peppard.

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As part of my commitment to bringing you more van and vannin’-related coverage, here’s the first picture of the A-Team van from the set of The A-Team movie in British Columbia.  As far as I can tell, it’s exactly like the original A-Team van.  Just a boring old GMC with no Neverending Story murals or Wizard of Oz themes or anything.  To refresh your memory, the A-Team was band of mercenaries who rode around in a van introducing themselves to their neighbors as required by law after being framed by their enemies, who were jealous of their van and awesome vannin lifestyle.  They were known for their window decal of Calvin peeing on “injustice” and the bumper sticker “if this van’s a-rockin’, keep on a-walkin’ because no one’s getting molested in here, honest Injun.”

[via SplashNews, ComingSoon]

(In retrospect, “Cutie McPretty” wasn’t the most intimidating nickname)

The last we heard about Rampage playing BA Baracus in the A-Team movie, The Sun had reported he’d been cast, then his publicist denied it.  His casting has since been de-facto confirmed as he pulled out (and Rampage hates pulling out) of his fight at UFC 107 so he could film the movie.  Which prompted a typical reaction from UFC president and awesome cuss-word-user Dana White:

“I hate it with a [expletive] passion…You’re a fighter; you’re not a movie star. It’s so [expletive] funny because fighters want to be movie stars, and movie stars want to act like they’re fighters. Get a [expletive] grip. You’re a fighter, and you’re (not) a [expletive] movie star. Alright?” [via Fightlinker]

Someone once gave the same speech to Kate Hudson.  In sexier news, Steven Soderbergh has cast Gina Carano in his aptly titled “Knockout,” which makes me worry that she won’t have time to film the movie I wrote for her, “Rear Naked Choke.”  (It’s autobiographical).

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Folks, if you’re standing you’d better sit, and if you’re bareheaded, you better put on a hat so you can hold the F onto it: it turns out British tabloids aren’t reliable sources of information.  (*covers umbrella with lighter fluid and sets it on fire*)  Even though The Sun reported a few days ago that UFC funny guy and avid dry humper Rampage Jackson was confirmed to play B.A. Baracus in the A-Team movie, it turns out that’s no more true than their report about Eddie Murphy playing the Riddler in the next Batman.  From MTV via Fightlinker (great site, btw):

MTV has confirmed that UFC champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has not been cast as B.A. Baracus in the coming big screen adaptation of “The A-Team.”

What I CAN tell you is that I reached out to Jackson’s publicist who checked with the fighter’s manager, as Jackson himself is currently on hiatus. The response? “His manager said it wasn’t true.” Move along people. There’s absolutely nothing to see here.

Well that’s a shame.  Rampage as Baracus was by far the most interesting thing I’ve heard about this project so far. I know most of us were young and impressionable when it came out, but let’s face it, The A-Team was a pretty dopey show.  You wanna make a movie about people who drive around in vans that I’ll watch?  Call up Story and Trailer Trish.  Can’t you just picture Gary Busey as the town Sheriff sidling up to the driver’s side window, “We don’t think kindly to… vanners in these parts.”    And then Trish’d be all, “Leave me alone!  You’re just jealous because I drive a Wizard of Oz truck!”  It could be like Easy Rider for the vanner community.  Of course, they’d have to show it at the drive in.