I read a classified ad once: “Got no movie? Originality against you? Call The Equalizer.” Looks like the Weinsteins read it, too. Make way for more 80s revisionist TV history.
The Weinstein Company has signed novelist Michael Connelly (Echo Park, Blood Work) and novelist/filmmaker Terrill Lee Lankford (Earthquake Weather) to hash out the screenplay for CBS’ watered down permutation of the Punisher, aka. The Equalizer.
The only thing I remember about The Equalizer is some kind of shooting switchblade, black leather gloves, a trench coat, a cool watch-thingey and an old guy I would always confuse for Michael Cain. Somewhere, all those little tidbits are tied into a plot about an ex-clandestine agent who, in an effort to sleep at night for all his past wrongs, offers his professional skills in the classifieds. When people answer his ad (“Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer”), he gets all pro bono- settling scores, defending the innocent and sleuthing the streets of New York.
The
writing duo intends, as most remake artists do, to retain “the heart
and soul of the show” while refreshing The Equalizer with
characteristics “of these times.” So, you know- make him gay.
The Equalizer actually sounds like one of the more promising TV adaptations to be recently picked up. Relatively dark for its TV origin, some modernization could shine it up into something nice and gritty. Noir-like even.