New Line has found a guy courageous enough to spend his days among tiki torches, perfect weather and gorgeous girls in grass skirts. That guy is Adam Sandler chum Frank Coraci, who directed the alleged funnyman in The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy and the upcoming Click.

Coraci has now got his hands on some Hawaiian Dick, based on the spiffy Image Comics series. The noirish story, set in pre-Brady 1950s Hawaii, follows an exiled American private eye who finds himself dealing with hot-tempered native gals, local police, fruity libations, witchcraft, crime lords, and a murdered woman who won’t seem to stay dead.

The script comes from Freddy vs. Jason guys Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Johnny Knoxville was once attached to star (and would make a perfect fit for the lead character, a drinker with a penchant for getting knocked around), but his current participation status is unknown. Which is a shame, especially as it implies the threat of Sandler taking the role.