A pilot script for the 2001 cop thriller Training Day, which starred Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, is being developed for CBS.
The film’s director, Antoine Fuqua (Southpaw, Olympus Has Fallen), has signed on as director and executive producer of the television adaptation. Jerry Bruckheimer (Bad Boys, Pirates of the Caribbean) will also serve as an exec producer, along with Johnathan Littman (“CSI” franchise and “The Amazing Race”). Former LAPD detective Will Beall (Gangster Squad, “Castle”) will be another exec producer and write the pilot.
Training Day featured Washington as a veteran LAPD cop who walks Hawke’s character through his first day as a narcotics officer. Washington earned an Academy Award for his performance. The television series is expected to pick up where the movie left off 15 years ago, Variety reported.
There is a long list of other cop films that are in the works to transition to television. Showtime is reportedly looking to bring crime drama “In the Heat of the Night” back to television. It was originally a 1967 film starring Sidney Poitier and then became a television series in the ’80s that ran for seven seasons.
The Rush Hour franchise, which made nearly $1 trillion, is also set to make a comeback. The three buddy cop movies featured comedian Chris Tucker and actor-stuntman Jackie Chan as crime-fighting partners. CBS ordered the series, with Justin Hires playing Tucker’s character and Jon Foo playing Chan’s.
