Surely you know we bow to no one in our appreciation of The Rockford Files. Per Deadline, Universal Pictures is having David Levien and Brian Koppelman write a feature film version to star Vince Vaughn. Here’s how they put it:
In the original series created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, Rockford was a private eye who’d spent a few years in San Quentin before being pardoned. He worked and lived out of a mobile home near the beach in Malibu, and unlike most of his TV detective peers, he dressed disheveled, and mostly used his charm and guile to talk his way out of trouble, instead of shooting. Vaughn certainly has that verbal dexterity. Universal’s sister network NBC has been trying to relaunch The Rockford Files as a TV series but put the brakes on it last year.
If you’re asking us, Vaughn’s not going to really work the checks off that sportcoat like the chiseled James Garner, who was most hilarious while being laconic, annoyed, and dour. Vaughn’s rapid-fire word-spew brand of comedy might be a closer fit for Angel than Jim Rockford, no?
Does this casting choice rise to the firestorm level of Cruise as Reacher? You tell us!
Hat tip: Omnimystery News
Ridiculous. There is only one Jim Rockford. His name is James Garner. The only think Vince Vaughn might be able to do is the hair.
I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I can’t see this. Although I was just talking to a friend about this and she said Vaughn could pull off the dead pan looks…
I’ve been thinking Dominic West for Rockford, myself.
No no no no no….. James Garner cannot be duplicated!!!
No. No no no no no. No. Plus, if Vince Vaughn is going to be in it, that means Universal is planning this as a COMEDY. No. No no no no no.
@RonH- that’s an interesting idea! I bet he could make that work. Good-looking and snakebit enough.
The only thing I know is that it doesn’t make any difference what we think. Look at Tom Cruise as Reacher. Why they even had a contest asking us who we thought would make a good Reacher is beyond me. It looks like the almighty buck is the decider.
I’m with @bitsy – money is the driver. The real issue here is we wouldn’t be against casting picks before we’d seen the movie if they were doing more original movies. It’s so much easier from a marketing perspective to start with a known entity as far as actors and characters that we lose out on more original work.
George Clooney is about the only one I think might pull it off.
I heard someone else suggest Clooney, too. Interesting thought, if he could resist twinkling.