Back In Action?

And so we come to what we’ll call the modern age of A-Team film development.

In December 2007, Fox announced that John Singleton was the man entrusted with bringing the film to the screen.

There were worries at the time that the writers/actors strike would get in the way (it did) so the original plan was for Singleton to get the movie made in time for a June 2009 opening.

Scriptwriter Jayson Rothwell (Blessed) was the latest name attached to the script, but after Singleton was officially signed, it went through yet more hands, with Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (who wrote both 3:10 To Yuma and Wanted) now taking up the challenge.

Singleton at first announced that he wanted Woody Harrelson to take on the role of Murdock. ““I don’t know who is in the cast yet,” he told Collider

“But I do know that the only person I want right now is, that I really, really want is Woody Harrelson to play Murdock – the guy who is crazy but he’s kind of real smart, a jack of all trades.”

And Singleton explained his vision for the film: “It’s not a comic movie farce like Starsky and Hutch, it’s kind of in the tradition of the '80s action pictures, the man’s movies like Die Hard, Predator, Commando, or even Lethal Weapon – more so than anything else. The action is very serious, but there is humour.”

It all seemed to be going so well. And then…

Next: Singleton Out!