CHiPs (Shepard / Pena / D’Onofrio) (March 24)

Vincent D’Onofrio, coming off his buzz-generating performance as a villain in Netflix’s Daredevil, is in negotiations to play the bad guy in CHiPs, Warner Bros.' big-screen take on the classic 1970s cop show.

Dax Shepard and Michael Pena are inhabiting the roles of the motorcycling police officers and best friends Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, with Shepard also serving as director and screenplay co-writer. (Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove wrote the previous draft.)

Plot details are being kept holstered, but it does involve an exotic-car theft ring.

D’Onofrio will play the auto-stealing ringleader, a ruthless former cop.

Andrew Panay is producing. Jesse Ehrman and Nik Mavinkurve are overseeing for the studio.

D’Onofrio spent ten years starring in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and when the show wrapped in 2011 slowly entered the feature world. But it’s only recently that he’s become a wanted man, partly due to his memorable performance as criminal underworld leader Wilson Fisk in Daredevil, the Marvel Studios TV show that hit Netflix in April.

He’s since bagged a leading role in The Magnificent Seven remake with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt and will be seen in Jurassic World (also with Pratt).

ForeverBlu wrote:Really?


This crappy show?

ForeverBlu wrote:Chris Pine?

So they were trying to keep it in the family back then?

ForeverBlu wrote:Former CHIPs cast member Robert Pine, is Chis's father.

We last head about Dax Shepard’s adaptation of CHiPs last September when he commented on the film by saying that it would be more serious than the original TV series, which ran from 1977-1983. However, we didn’t know when California Highway Patrol motorcycle cops Don Baker (Shepard) and Frank “Ponch” Poncherello (Michael Pena) would be hitting the road.

Steve recently spoke to Michael Peña for Ant-Man, and their conversation touched on CHiPs and the project’s status.
 
Pena said that the project was greenlit two or three weeks ago, which means he’s been preparing for the role:

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I had to start learning how to ride a motorcycle, rehearsing, and then working out. I’ve been throwing up like every day after workouts. I like food, you know? And I also like reading, being on my iPad, no walks in the park; just chilling with my son. We just lounge and this [gestures to stomach] gets bigger.

Pena also revealed that the movie would be set in the present day, and reiterated Shepard’s earlier statement that the film would be in the vein of Lethal Weapon. Specifically, don’t expect a comedy that’s barraging you with jokes:

It’s more like a Lethal Weapon where there’s a lot of action and what we wanted to do is if there’s any comedy that we do, it’s not like one-liners here and there, like we’re the guys always being stand-up comedians. It’s almost like you lose a little bit of the plotline whenever you’re off doing your own comedy thing, so we’re focusing a little more on the plot, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Following up on his comment about how the movie will be “Lethal Weapon-ish”, he added that they’re going for an R-rating, which should be interesting. At the very least, it looks like they’re definitely avoiding the Starsky & Hutch approach.

Finally, Pena also noted that the film will co-star Vincent D’Onofrio and that they’re trying to get Kristen Bell (who’s married to Shepard) for a role, so it looks like they’re putting together a strong cast this adaptation. I have no feelings one way or the other about the CHiPs TV series, but I like these actors, and it sounds like they have a solid take on the material, so I’m excited to see what they do with it.

Adam Brody is set to join Dax Shepard and Michael Pena in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of the popular ’70s TV series “CHiPs.”

“Insurgent” actress Rosa Salazar is also in negotiations to come on board. Vincent D’Onofrio is slated to play the villain.

Shepard will write and direct the pic with Andrew Panay producing, along with Shepard’s Primate Pictures. Rick Rosner, who created the NBC series, will exec produce.

The TV series, which ran from 1977-83, featured two officers who patrolled the highways of California armed with motorcycles and the tightest khaki cop uniforms in television history. Shepard will play Officer Jon Baker (played in the original by Larry Wilcox), while Michael Pena is attached to play Frank “Ponch” Poncherello, the role Erik Estrada originated. Brody will play another officer on the force.

Jesse Ehrman and Nik Mavinkurve will oversee for the studio.

Brody was most recently seen in the dramedy “Sleeping With Other People” opposite Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie. Brody completed Whit Stillman’s “Cosmopolitan” pilot for Amazon Studios in a lead role alongside Chloe Sevigny and Dree Hemingway.

Salazar has landed roles in some of the bigger YA adaptations, including the “Divergent” series and Fox’s “Maze Runner” franchise.

Tyger wrote:I like Adam Brody, it sucks that he's not a bigger actor

Tyger wrote:I liked Seth Cohen

Rusty Cunt wrote:So when they said "Lethal Weapon-ish", they actually meant 21 Jumps St reboot.

That looks stupid.

Tyger wrote:Was anybody expecting anything different? Baywatch is the same thing. I have no problem with it but I'm not a genuine fan of either of those shows.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Watched this and it was bad but a good sort of bad. Nothing new to see here but I liked seeing Dax and Bell as married couple, there were funny moments. This a movie you watch when you got nothing to else to watch. lol

WyldeMan wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:Watched this and it was bad but a good sort of bad. Nothing new to see here but I liked seeing Dax and Bell as married couple, there were funny moments. This a movie you watch when you got nothing to else to watch. lol

KBell's character was such a shitty wife, I love that Dax wrote and directed all of her scenes too LOL.