Anna Daniels
I always love it when actors test their limits and push themselves to try things they’ve never done before. That’s why I’m thrilled that Samuel L. Jackson will be playing – get this – a retired hitman in a new untitled movie from the directors of Focus. Jackson as a hitman? What a concept!
All snark aside, Jackson has played hitmen on screen before (famously doing so in Pulp Fiction and The Hitman’s Bodyguard), so it obviously makes sense that a risk-averse company would want to finance a movie with a familiar face playing a familiar type of role. I get it. But I’m also allowed to be slightly underwhelmed by the announcement that we’re getting more of the same here, while still holding out some hope that this filmmaking team will be able to do something unique with this story.
Deadline reports that a new Samuel L. Jackson hitman movie is in the works from writer Matthew Stone (who worked with Jackson on Soul Men in 2008) and directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the directing duo behind movies like Crazy Stupid Love and I Love You Phillip Morris. John Davis (Predator, Game Night, Dolemite is My Name) is producing. Here’s how the outlet describes the plot:
Jackson will star as Morris Stokes, who is not your typical retiree. Once the trusted hitman for mob boss “Easy-A,” he’s got more kills under his belt than he can count and has earned his time out of the game. When his nephew, Leslie, makes a stupid mistake, Morris gets a call from his old boss and must negotiate one last job: either help the kid recover the lost money, or put a bullet in him. Morris drags Leslie around town, making him clean up his mess while pontificating on some of life’s lessons along the way.
Sounds like Jackson could play this role in his sleep. Requa and Ficarra haven’t made a theatrically-released feature since 2016’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, but they brought a little bit of sleekness and style to Crazy Stupid Love and Focus, so maybe they’ll be able to do something interesting with this one.
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