Good Time directors Benny and Josh Safdie will develop a 48 Hours remake for Paramount Players. Good Time has won the Safdies critical acclaim, scoring five Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations. The film also played in competition at Cannes and picked up an award for Best Score. Star Robert Pattinson has himself earned raves for his performance as a failed bank robber suffering through a hellish night trying to get his mentally challenged brother out of Riker’s Island.
The original 48 Hours, released in 1982, helped set the template for all buddy-cop movies to come. Murphy’s character, actually a furloughed convict forced to help Nolte, banters and spars with his partner in true buddy-cop style. The great Walter Hill directed the gritty action-comedy, guiding Eddie Murphy to a career making performance. The film grossed an impressive $78 million in the US, and spawned the sequel Another 48 Hours. The sequel came out eight years after the original and failed to recapture the magic.
THR reports that Benny and Josh Safdie have now been tapped by Paramount Players to revive 48 Hours. Carmichael Show co-creator Jerrod Carmichael will pen the script along with Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein. Planet of the Apes company Chernin Entertainment will produce along with Oscar Boyson and Sebastian Bear-McClard.
Buddy cop movies dominated the 1980s, and 48 Hours in large part kick started the genre. All the conventions are in place: Partners who grate on each other’s nerves at first, but later develop mutual respect; an action plot that allows the main characters to bond; a healthy dose of comedy in addition to the action. Lethal Weapon would take that formula and spin it into a whole franchise that still survives today as a TV series. Buddy cop movies have become less popular in recent years, perhaps because the tropes became too well-worn. But a revival seems in the offing, thanks to movies like Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe’s The Nice Guys. The genre also gets a sci-fi spin this year with Will Smith’s Netflix movie Bright.
With its hyper kinetic style, driving plot and splashes of comedy, Good Time proved a perfect showcase for the Safdie brothers’ talents. Those talents should for the most part translate well to the buddy cop hijinks of 48 Hours. Jerrod Carmichael joins the mix for that extra comedy boost, if needed. Casting for this one should be intriguing. Jerrod Carmichael himself might be a fit for the Eddie Murphy role of the cocky young convict. Then there’s Robert Pattinson, who basically played an unhinged version of that character already in Good Time. And for the Nick Nolte grizzled old cop half of the 48 Hours team? What about Eddie Murphy? Sadly, Murphy has perhaps become too mellowed-out for the Safdies’ sure-to-be-wild take on 48 Hours.
We’ll keep you updated on 48 Hours as more information becomes available.
More: Good Time: Robert Pattinson’s Scandalous Dog Story Explained
Source: THR
