Tradecraft: Jason King, Movie Star
Note: This was an April Fool's post, maintained for archival reasons. That is to say, it isn't true.
I thought we couldn’t beat last year’s surprise announcement that Guillermo Del Toro would be adapting the Sixties spy series The Champions (so obscure that it really can’t even be described as "cult") in terms of sheer weirdness, but today I find myself flummoxed once more. According to Variety, Johnny Depp has acquired the rights to produce and star in a big screen remake of Seventies ITC classic Jason King. Spun off from the superior Department S, Jason King followed the adventures of flamboyant thriller writer-cum-relucta
nt spy King, played by the great Peter Wyngarde sporting an out-of-control mustache and a hairdo that seems to have resulted from experiments to breed a bouffant with a mullet--the sort of experiments only attempted in the Seventies. Depp hasn’t said whether his version will be set then or now, but he has promised to don the famous ‘do, and revealed that he looks forward to rummaging through Wyngarde’s wardrobe. Frequent Depp collaborator Tim Burton is favored to direct.
I thought we couldn’t beat last year’s surprise announcement that Guillermo Del Toro would be adapting the Sixties spy series The Champions (so obscure that it really can’t even be described as "cult") in terms of sheer weirdness, but today I find myself flummoxed once more. According to Variety, Johnny Depp has acquired the rights to produce and star in a big screen remake of Seventies ITC classic Jason King. Spun off from the superior Department S, Jason King followed the adventures of flamboyant thriller writer-cum-relucta
nt spy King, played by the great Peter Wyngarde sporting an out-of-control mustache and a hairdo that seems to have resulted from experiments to breed a bouffant with a mullet--the sort of experiments only attempted in the Seventies. Depp hasn’t said whether his version will be set then or now, but he has promised to don the famous ‘do, and revealed that he looks forward to rummaging through Wyngarde’s wardrobe. Frequent Depp collaborator Tim Burton is favored to direct.
The mind boggles?
ReplyDeleteThis definely proves having too much money nobody is willing to tell you you're an idiot, distorts your judgment.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I've been snarky, I have to admit I'd probably buy a ticket just because of the wierdness of it all -- and painful memories of the original show. I think I still have a couple of the paperback tie-ins.
Well I walked right into that one...maybe I should have clicked the Variety link first....but I blame the time diffences for my gulibility!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry, David (and everyone else); I simply couldn't help myself. After that Champions story last year, I just started thinking, "What could possibly be more bizarre than this?", came up with Depp as King, and it stuck around in my head till April 1. The story is, of course, a joke. But maybe it will come true; stranger things can happen!
ReplyDeleteHopefully it wasn't a cruel joke that really got anyone's hopes up like that Dark Horizons one about Paul Thomas Anderson directing a period adaptation of Horse Under Water!