I’m not entirely sure what the point of making a film version of 21 Jump Street is. After all, the thing that the late 80s TV series is best remembered for is starring Johnny Depp before he was a major star, rather than because it was a particularly good or groundbreaking series. However when has that stopped Hollywood doing something, especially when you’ve got a star like Jonah Hill onboard, who’s a fan of the original series and really wants to get a new version to the big screen?
Variety reports that the film may now have found its directors in the form of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team who recently made the incredibly successful CG-animated flick, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. While 21 Jump Street will be their first live action movie, they have worked outside animation in TV, as producers of the likes of How I Met Your Mother.
The new film will be based on an idea by Jonah Hill and screenwriter Mike Bacall, and will see Hill starring as one of a group of baby-faced cops who go undercover in a high school.
I’m sorry, but this is just getting bizarre. So we basically have Jonah Hill playing a role made famous by Jonny Depp, based on a TV series not that many people remember very well and which will be directed by people who’s only previous feature film experience was on a cartoon. Is it just me, or is this whole movie starting to smell like a very bad idea?