David O. Russell is really, really digging the geek stuff lately. After becoming the unlikely director of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (Three Kings or not, was he ever on anyone’s radar for it?) he’s now setting his sight on comics. But no Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse for Russell. He’s got his eye on 2 Guns from Boom! Studios.
Universal optioned 2 Guns back in 2008 with an eye to turning it into a Lethal Weapon type of action-comedy. It’s sort of begging for it. It centers on two thieves named Trench and Steadman, who knowingly rob a mob bank. They think this makes them good guys.
The cute thing is, they are good guys. They’re both undercover cops, though neither man knows it of the other. But in twist-upon-twist, they also discover they’ve been set up by the very Mafia they were robbing, and they actually robbed the CIA of $50 million. Whoa!
No wonder Vince Vaughn was attached.
But that may all change. According to THR’s Heat Vision Russell is in talks to direct and rewrite the script. I wouldn’t be surprised if 2 Guns becomes another Red, with little in common with the source material. I’m certainly not complaining. I’d like to not know both wacky twists ahead of time. It’s unclear whether this will shoot before or after Uncharted, as it was reported both ways today.
Considering Wahlberg has basically cleared his, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci’s schedule for Uncharted, one would imagine it will shoot after. Hopefully we’ll forget all about the robbers / undercover cops / Mafia stooges by then, and be completely and utterly blown away by 2 Guns.