NEWS: The A-Team Movie: Oh Yeah, I'm Excited.

CELEB: The A-Team Movie: Oh Yeah, I'm Excited.

The A-Team was my favorite prime time show growing up. More action packed than "Knight Rider", less lame super-copter based than "Air-Wolf" and, unfortunately, less immediately canceled than "Manimal".

The show had, in all likelihood, the greatest theme song/opening credit sequence of the '80s. It explained the premise, shot up a logo with bullets and then gave you 15 explosions.

It featured one of the coolest variations on the rag-tag yet somehow super elite fighting force, certainly one of the best ever on TV.

And, I'll say this, the show kinda holds up. I don't mean in some ironic way, either.

Every single episode followed the following formula, and it worked like a charm: Innocents are preyed upon by bad men. Innocents reach out to mythical crack commando squad, only to meet a dead end but, aha! actually the dead end was their leader in disguise. Commando squad humbles bad men, then gets trapped by bad men in a room fully stocked with items that are easily turned into weapons. Commandos defeat bad guys and narrowly evade the one-step-behind US government.

The bad men reached across all genres, too. Small-time mobsters, cattle barons, drug dealers, evil tow truck companies, Asian mobsters, farmers, etc. Everything short of space aliens.

A highlight for me would be the inevitable point when B.A. Baracus (Mr. T!), the muscle of the group, would square off against the opposing team's equally beefed-up thug. It would usually be a guy who closely resembled B.A. body-wise but was another ethnicity. Or another black guy but sans mohawk. Giant muscled Asian guy, giant muscled redneck, giant muscled samoan guy...

This fellow was usually introduced when "Face" or "Murduck" would attempt to take him on, after dispatching many lesser foes, only to hurt their hand on his barrel chest. At which point B.A. would step in and the real fight would begin. Often culminating in another show trademark, the from below, slow-motion shot of a man being hurled through the air and, typically, into a window.

Now all that glorious magic is back:

Were this Michael Bay or some similar shitheel I'd be concerned but John Singleton of Boyz n the Hood could do a top-notch job here. With the right cast. Here's the way I think it should go.

The A-Team

John "Hannibal" Smith - The team's calm, super-cool leader, a brilliant tactician, colonel and master of disguise. That's right, only a master could play both an unconvincing elderly Asian man and climb into a Godzilla costume. Played by the great George Pepard.

Who it should be: George Clooney (who was once rumored to be involved) or Nathan Fillion... And just a second ago I had a flash of a prime Tommy Lee Jones doing an impossibly amazing job...

Who they'll get: Tough to say, hopefully Clooney


Templeton Peck aka "Faceman" Handsome, fast talking, con man with a way with the ladies. Often given demanding missions along the lines of "procuring a jet engine from a deserted farmhouse" which he'd accomplish by donning fake glasses and kissing a girl.

Who it should be: "Sawyer" from LOST seems obvious, probably because he's a con man, but he's fictional so it might be hard to get him. Jude Law if he did this kind of film. I'm tempted to say Brad Pitt, but I'll go with Matthew McConaughey.

Who they'll get: Vince Vaughn


B.A. Baracus The muscle. The guy who kicks most of the asses as well as the resident mechanic. I mean, we've all seen Mr.T, right? Like that.

Who it should be: Ice Cube has been rumored for this part but I don't like it. He's awesome but too old, too small. I thought about former Cube co-star Terry Crewes, but he's a bit too comic. I'll go with the the sleek, scaled down bad-assery of Gbenga Akinnagbe aka Chris Partlow from The Wire. Whoa.

Who they'll get: This dude in a "fake muscles" t-shirt.


"Howling Mad" Murdock The literally insane "wildman" who also provided pilot duties. Played by Dwight Schulz, who still seems to turn up on things.

Who it should be: James Callis (Baltar) from Battlestar Galactica. Cause he'd be great and because it'd be nice to have someone from a version of Battlestar in both versions of the A-Team. Or maybe Will Arnett.

Who they'll get: Adrien Brody or Jim Carrey





Yes, like you, TheCoolerKing loves it when a plan comes together

I'll agree that John Singleton is leaps and bounds better than Mr. "Missed the Mark" Bay.

If I had to pick a cast, how about the following:

Hannibal - Actually, @the moment I can't think of anyone better than Clooney.

Face - I was thinking "pretty boy", but I'm actually @a loss as to who.

B.A. - How about Ving Rhames?

Murdock - Patrick Warburton? One only needs to look @Joe Swanson or Brock Samson to know he can play gung-ho crazy.

-TM

I would love to see Will Arnett as Murdock

HAnnibal---- Brian Cox
FACE--- would have been nice for corbin bernsen.. but he's too old...and even though he is old i still say it should be my favorite president lonestar, BILL PULLMAN
BA...why cant it still be mr T???? if not, they should pity his clone!
Murdock...i'd like to see owen wilson do it...if not they can dress jim carrey like matt frewer.

I think Clooney and Rhames would be just right... and I'd even be happy with Jim Carrey as Murdock (which surprises me). Not sure about Face, though. Can we get Viggo Mortensen in there somewhere?

Dwight Schultz and Mr T should be in this one too. But George Clooney as Hannibal sounds like a great choice

Mr T is still a big man and I'm sure he could use a nice paycheck. He better at least get a cameo. I pity da fool who no matter what will play a second rate B.A. Barracus.

Doesn't seem...funny enough for Face.

-TM

Not gonna love this until I see the cast. I have such fond memories of the show that I would be disappointed if the cast did not have the right fit

I would like to see Nathan Fillion as Face. I think he could pull it off

And the supporting cast...

Reese Witherspoon as the girl reporter

Tommy Lee Jones as the colonel antagonist

Whoever is the star Latino actor as Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana

The van should be the original van

Yeah the cast is going to make or break this movie. Hannibal as Clooney is perfect I think. I personally would like to see Bruce Campbell play Face, but he's getting old. Murdock could be a few people, Carrey could do it well. Someone said Owen Wilson up there, he'd be fine too. I can't imagine anyone else being B.A. though. Bob Sapp, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Rhames could pull it off but I don't know if they could carry the same persona as Mr. T.

I think that's the best call yet.

Maybe it should be, but I'll be surprised as hell if it actually is.

Hannibal - I think Clooney would be great, but my pick here would be Kurt Russel

Face - If he were younger I'd say Brad Pitt.

B.A - Ving Rhames or Djimon Hounsou

Murdock - Jim Carrey (yeah right, at his price tag) or some other mad cap comedian.

Col Dekker - Lance Henrickson

Maybe not. Robert Downey Junior? Christian Bale might be good, too.

The IMdB listing has two rumoured castings:

Ice-Cube for BA
Woody Harrelson for Murdock

Wow, yeah Jones as Col. Decker is perfect. Similar to what he did in The Fugitive but twice as grizzled.

Corbin Bernsen? Hah, I'm guessing he probably auditioned for the TV show...

And can we find a place for Jimmy McNulty in this film too? Thanks.

John Singleton of Boyz n the Hood could do a top-notch job here... unfortunately, the John Singleton of Poetic Justice, Rosewood, Higher Learning, Shaft... could fuck it up, royally.

"B.A. Baracus"


why not just get MR T? It's not like he's too busy or anything.

why has nobody mentioned Michael Clark Duncan for the role of B.A.? whoops, was hidden away in a block of text. i second Michael Clark Duncan for B.A.

and yes on Callis for Murdock. i like that guy.

Nathan Fillion for Hannibal. He plays the tired warrior all too well in Firefly/Serenity. Clooney is too much of a "face" himself to not actually be considered for Face...certainly not Hannibal. Ving Rhames or even Mr.T reprising his role as B.A. would be great. Besides, Clooney and Ice Cube together in an A-Team movie would be like too much like Three Kings II...

Hannibal - I'll jump on the clooney bandwagon, he sounds good for the role

Face - Christian Bale

B.A. - Ving Rhames

Murdock - I'll go with thefreak on this one and say Patrick Warburton, Brock Samson all the way

Good news.

I think the guy who played Mr. Eko on lost would make a great BA.