1992 gave us Abel Ferrara’s famed NC-17 rated bad cop cult feature “Bad Lieutenant” starring Harvey Keitel as a rogue cop on a down spiral of his own making.
Then in 2009 Werner Herzog came along with a spin-off feature dubbed “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” starring Nicolas Cage which kept up the sheer craziness but lost some of the grit.
This week at Cannes, producer Ed Pressman and his Pressman Film label have announced plans to bring the franchise back to life with many as six “Bad Lieutenant” spin-off films on the way.
The plan is to adopt an approach not unlike Netflix’s “Criminal” series – each tale of a corrupt cop is set in a specific country like the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Argentina while a partner is being sought for one set in France. Each is expected to be done as a local-language feature made by talent from that country.
Pressman did not indicate who is writing or directing these remakes, though helmers have reportedly been lined up and scripts are currently being written. He says: “it’s like planting the same seed in a different climate. Each grows in its own way, but the germ of the idea is a corrupt cop.”
Pressman also teased an announcement is forthcoming about the long-gestating “The Crow” reboot which at last report was set to star Jason Momoa and be directed by Corin Hardy. He is also moving ahead on his long-gestating adaptation of Edward Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang” with Henry Joost and Rel Schulman directing this comedy about a group of environmentalist saboteurs in the 1970s.
Source: Screen Daily