De Niro? I'm in. Bounty Hunters? As long as Gerard Butler isn't involved... double in. Comedy, it's like we're soul mates!
Robert De Niro will reprise his role as Jack Walsh for Universal's sequel to the R-rated comedy classic Midnight Run.
The 1988 original starred De Niro as a former Chicago cop turned Los Angeles-based bounty hunter, who hunts the turncoat mob accountant played by Charles Grodin in time to collect a $100,000 fee.
The studio has hired Role Models co-writer Tim Dowling to pen the script for Midnight Run 2. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Walsh will chase a new fugitive. Grodin, who retired from acting to become a broadcast journalist, will not be reprising his role.
Martin Brest, coming off the success of Beverly Hills Cop, wrote and directed the original, and went on to give us another classic, Scent of A Woman. His last movie though, was 2003's critical and box-office disaster, Gigli. It is unknown whether he will return to direct the Midnight Run sequel, though I would guess it is unlikely.
De Niro will produce with his Tribeca Productions partner Jane Rosenthal.
Here's the long trailer for the original.