Well our friends in the Great White North are going to be seeing a lot of military action in the upcoming couple of months. Joe Carnahan, the director that brought us Smokin’ Aces and Narc, should be ready to start a six-week shooting schedule shortly in Vancouver for the upcoming feature film of The A-Team. As an added bonus, it looks like MMA fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has been selected to play the iconic, gold-chain-covered B.A. Baracus.
Mr. “Rampage” joins the already cast Liam Neeson as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith and this summer’s Hangover star, Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck. Yet to be announced is the actor chosen to play H.M “Howling Mad” Murdock. We could easily speculate on who has been rumored to play the chopper pilot turned psychiatric patient, but frankly the list has gotten ridiculous and a bit tedious.
The latest person rumored to be B.A.’s little buddy Murdock is Chris Pine. This is the same Chris Pine that is already confirmed to star opposite Denzel Washington in Unstoppable, which just so happens to be filming in Philadelphia right now. So unless that runaway train he is on finally stops in Vancouver, I doubt he will be able to make the film schedule. Good rumor though; too bad it probably won’t pan out.
Of course, this could be just like all the Chris Pine/Green Lantern rumors that floated around the blogosphere leading up to actual casting of Ryan Reynolds. Hey I’ve got an idea, why not just cast Justin Timberlake as Murdock and be done with it? A long, long while back, when The A-Team was just an inkling of a rumor in the Hollywood mill, Jim Carrey was supposed to be playing the titular character – but alas, that didn’t pan out. Earlier this year, Carnahan grabbed the director’s chair and Woody Harrelson was going to wear Murdock’s crazy leather bomber jacket; but that too turned out to go nowhere.
What I’m afraid is going to ultimately happen, just like with the choice of “Rampage” Jackson, is that they will choose a relative unknown for the character and that will most likely turn out awful. Other than having been on TV for MMA fights, Jackson has no acting background whatsoever and we won’t find out how he does for another year or so. I’d be a little less apprehensive if he was coming from a WWE background. At least then we would know he can act (zing)!
I’m not worried about Carnahan’s ability to deliver a summer-worthy movie, but if he doesn’t make a good choice for Murdock and the choice for Baracus turns out to be a bust, then The A-Team could quickly become a movie focused on “Hannibal” and “Faceman.”
What are your thoughts on the choice of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as B.A. Baracus and who do you see playing H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock? (If someone says Ben Affleck I will literally club a baby seal.)
The A-Team has a release date of June 11th, 2010 but seeing as how filming hasn’t started and 25% of the cast hasn’t been selected, I’m going out on a limb and say that will be pushed WAY back.
