Sylvester Stallone And Frank Grillo Teaming Up For 80s Remake
Sylvester Stallone is remaking a cult classic '80s movie with Frank Grillo.
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What’s better than an iconic Sylvester Stallone film getting a remake? Well, it is the Oscar-nominated actor helming the film himself and Frank Grillo starring in it! It has been recently revealed that one of Stallone’s early films, Nighthawks, a beloved cult classic released back in 1981 and one of the grossly underappreciated action films of the star’s career, is being revived as a limited series with Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Bruck Rumlow/Crossbones i.e., Grillo set to portray the lead character.
In 1981’s neo-noir action-crime film, Sylvestor Stallone played the character of an NYPD cop, Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva who is assigned the task of tracking down and then killing the dangerous international terrorist Heymar Reinhardt a.k.a. Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). While DaSilva is not exactly in favor of taking a life, he is determined to put a stop to Wulfgar’s nefarious and deadly plans. During his recent appearance on the podcast, The Beard and The Bald (via JoBlo), The Purge: Anarchy star Frank Grillo revealed that he will be taking up the lead role originally played by Stallone in the remake of the film.
While plans of revisiting Nighthawks have been in the pipeline since 2019, it was only last year that Sylvester Stallone confirmed that the film is getting a remake in the form of a streaming series by Universal. And now, Frank Grillo has spilled more beans about the highly-anticipated show. There is an ongoing search for an actor to the late Rutger Hauer who played Wulgar the terrorist in the original film. Even though he will be leading the story this time, which will be a limited series, it doesn’t mean that Stallone is not in the picture anymore. Not only is Stallone directing the series, but at some point in the story, he will also be a part of the plot. Whether he is set to appear as DaSilva or some other character is yet to be disclosed.
“I’m playing him (Sylvester Stallone). He’s directing, he’s gonna direct ’em, and then he’s gonna be in it…It’s happening as we speak, we’re selling it right now,” Frank Grillo shared.
The eight-episode-long series from Sylvester Stallone will continue Frank Grillo’s ongoing streak as Hollywood’s action hero. His first lead role was in the hit action-thriller The Purge: Anarchy, portraying Sergeant Leo Barnes who sets out to hunt down the killer of his son on the one night in the year when all crimes, including murder, are legal for 12 hours and no one is held accountable. He next reprised the role in The Purge: Election Year (2016). He recently appeared in Hulu’s science-fiction action film, Boss Level, wherein he plays the character of a retired police officer trying to evade an endless time loop of his death, and also voiced Crossbones in Marvel’s What If…?
The remake of Nighthawks isn’t the only action-thriller project that Frank Grillo is currently involved in. He will soon be seen in Joe Carnahan’s Copshop opposite Gerard Butler; with Melissa Leo and Josh Hartnett in Ida Red; in The Yacht alongside Ruby Rose and Patrick Schwarzenegger; in Wes Miller’s action-heist film, A Day To Die, alongside Bruce Willis, and many other upcoming projects. But the actor is more excited about working with Sylvester Stallone as he is an ardent admirer of the Rocky star and is still reeling from the fact that he was chosen to play a character originally headlined by Stallone.
“I’m like you, I love Rocky, I just love Stallone and I’m at this point where I’m sitting across from him and he’s telling me I’m the only guy to play the role…This is AMAZING!” Frank Grillo said.
Given Frank Grillo’s excellent repertoire as an action hero, Sylvester Stallone’s impressive career as a director (Expendables, Rambo), and the still existing fan-following for the original film, we are totally in for the heart-stopping high octane thriller that the remake is destined to be.
