When news of a sequel to Midnight Run started picking up steam a few months ago, it was difficult to believe it was true. Few seemed to be clamouring for a follow-up to the 1988 movie about Chicago cop turned Los Angeles-based bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro), who must hunt down Charles Grodin’s turncoat mob accountant and get him from New York to LA before the FBI or the Mafia find him.
However both Robert De Niro and Universal seemed keen to make Midnight Run 2, so a script was put into development, However one question that’s been asked quite a lot is whether Charles Grodin will return. It seemed unlikely, as he pretty much retired from acting in the mid-90s. However he has made occasional forays back into film, and according to Deadline, he’s now being courted to do it again for the Midnight Run sequel, which would feature De Niro chasing the son of Grodin’s character from the first film. The actors says, Ive been led to believe by someone I wont name that they will ask me and I will consider it.
However, those hoping he’lll show up as rumoured in The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made will be disappointed, as he says I just turned down the new Muppet movie. I was in The Great Muppet Caper and I think they are bringing back those of us still alive for a reprise. Jim Henson was dear to me but Im not flying 6000 miles to Los Angeles to work one day.” He’s also turned down other movies because of the travel, with the actor preferring to stay close to his Connecticut home, woring as an advocate for poor, first-time offenders hit with impossible prison sentences because of mandatory sentencing laws.
The producers of Midnight Run 2 are also said to be after original director Martin Brest as well, although no official approach has yet been made. It would also be a bit of a return for him, as following the failure of Meet Joe Black and Gigli, he hasn’t made a movie since.