There's nothing like a good sequel to brighten my day. Too bad the odds of a sequel being good are worse than Luke Skywalker surviving a Hoth ice storm without a freshly sliced Tauntaun gut to keep him warm. Still, anytime a movie at least almost breaks even at the box office you can pretty much be guaranteed a part deux. The Italian Job (a remake, no less) is no exception.
David Twohy, most renowned for writing and directing Pitch Black and its not-quite-so-cool follow-up The Chronicles of Riddick is getting another swing at a sequel. According to Variety, an original screenplay by Twohy entitled The Wrecking Crew has been gobbled up by Paramount and jello-molded for the cast of Italian.
In order to entice the cast into showing up for a sequel, the movie has cleverly been titled The Brazilian Job to permit filming in Rio de Janeiro. I can imagine Donald Sutherland begging producers to make it a prequel when he heard it was being shot in the sexiest city in the southern hemisphere. Word is most of the original cast of Italian and its director, F. Gary Gray, will be returning.
While I would much prefer to see an original screenplay in the theater rather than sit through one that has turned sequel to custom-fit a previously successful cast, I have to give Twohy credit for jumping at a guaranteed chance to see his work get to screen. Given the success of The Italian Job, Paramount is also likely to come out on top with this South American sequel. No word yet on whether or not a third film, The Dead End Job, set in Los Angeles, is in the works.
