The Jason Momoa And David Bautista Buddy Cop Film Is Happening, Here’s What We Know
Jason Momoa and David Bautista are switching from fighting each other in See to watching each others' backs in a buddy cop film!
They were both in Dune. They’re both in See, season 2. They both play popular superheroes, they’ve both got muscles for miles, and they could compare tattoos from the crack of morning until it got dark. Now David Bautista and Jason Momoa are going the route of Mel Gibson/Danny Glover, Will Smith/Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte, and too many others to name. The pair are making a buddy cop comedy together.
According to Deadline, it didn’t take long for studios to start bidding on the untitled film. David Bautista kicked things off in August by tweeting “Just going to throw this out into the atmosphere and see what happens. Here we go… Me and Momoa in a Lethal Weapon type buddy cop movie directed by David Leitch.” While interest was piqued immediately all over Hollywood, Deadline reports that MGM is the top contender in the bidding war and very close to sealing the deal.
Few details are known about the untitled project so far. Deadline reports that the actors will play brothers as well as fellow cops, and that Jonathan Tropper is attached to write the script. Tropper has already collaborated with both David Bautista and Jason Momoa on Apple TV+’s See, and his writing credits also include next year’s The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds. While Bautista wrote that David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) was directing in his August tweet, Deadline says no director is currently attached without offering specifics about why Leitch presumably left the project. Leitch’s IMDb page lists the director as already having two films in pre-production, so it may be his schedule filled up. The untitled buddy cop comedy is planned to shoot in Hawaii some time in 2023.
Assuming MGM lands the deal as expected, one question is whether David Bautista and Jason Momoa will be appearing on the big screen, the small one, or both. Amazon’s deal to acquire MGM for $8.45 billion was finalized in May, meaning the buddy cop flick could find itself exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime. However, with the star power of Bautista and Momoa behind it, the untitled film might prove a frutiful opportunity for a wide theatrical release.
On The Late Late Show (via Deadline), Momoa said when he and David Bautista play buddies in the upcoming movie, they won’t be faking. The Aquaman star said he and Bautista got to know each other while making season 2 of See, in which they play brothers at war with each other. While they both also appeared in this year’s remake of Dune, Momoa’s Duncan Idaho and Bautista’s Beast Rabban didn’t have scenes together.
For those unfamiliar, See takes place in a dystopian future in which humanity’s numbers are dwindled by a mysterious illness, throwing back civilization to pre-industrial times. All of the humans left alive are struck blind and after centuries, the idea of a human born with sight becomes a mythical concept. When the adoptive children of Momoa’s Baba Voss are born with sight, it sets off a bloody holy crusade. Voss’ brutal brother Edo kidnaps Voss’ daughter Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) in the season 1 finale, and it’s Bautista who plays Edo in the second season which concluded last month.
