For an author most haven’t even heard of, Chuck Hogan has been slowly but surely raising his visibility with audiences. His novel Prince of Thieves was made into the rather well-acclaimed Ben Affleck thriller The Town, and his vampire trilogy The Strain (which was co-written by genre big shot Guillermo Del Toro) is primed to be FX’s next big hit this July. As any many authors will tell you, though, eventually there is a desire to write to amuch bigger field of vision, and Deadline has some news reporting that he’s doing just that.
Not only is Mr. Hogan in the process of adapting a film about the Benghazi crisis for Paramount, but he’s also set to update NBC’s classic show The Rockford Files. This project has been putting around at Universal Studios since 2012, with the project being planned as a potential starring vehicle for Vince Vaughn.
In the original series, James Garner played the titular James Rockford: a gumshoe that, after wrongfully serving time in San Quentin, started his own Private Investigation business. Working out of a trailer he also lived in, Jim enjoyed serving justice just as much as he did a good drink or a witty comeback. Among the shows other trademarks were the catchy theme song, and a seemingly limitless answering machine (Seriously, how did that thing never run out of room?)
While Vaughn’s last two starring vehicles, Delivery Man and The Internship failed to rank with past hits like Old School and Wedding Crashers, this seems like something that’s right in his wheelhouse. Then again, those projects promised exactly the same thing to audiences, only to find themselves crashing and burning upon launch. The Internship was especially brutal, even in trailer form.
Universal will be handling this adaptation, and no release date has been specified. This gives the studio plenty of time to find a creative team to fit both Hogan and Vaughn’s sensibilities, which is good considering this is yet another risky re-launch of a property with questionable popularity. If this works, we could see the male answer to Charlie’s Angels. If it doesn't, then we’ll see the franchise hit Full Throttle before it’s even had a chance to warm up its trademark synthesizers.
