Blocean’s Bleleven!
That was the pitch for Trump Heist, a movie set to star Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Chris Tucker as con men who work in Trump Tower and pull off a major swindle there. Except now Ben Stiller is replacing Eddie Murphy, the movie could be called Tower Heist and the whole thing could be totally different.
The film was originally written as a specifically black movie, but with Stiller coming onboard that’s likely to change. At least, I hope it’s likely to change. If not, Stiller should have a talk with Ted Danson about the dangers of black face (although it worked damn well for Robert Downey Jr, so…).
Trump Heist‘s script will be rewritten, and the LA Times assumes it will be rewritten by one of Stiller’s cronies; this could be the fifth writer on the project. The name change could be coming from a legal decision, which is too bad. Tower Heist is unbearably generic.
Brett Ratner, by the way, remains attached to direct, as he has been for years. It’s been since Rush Hour 3 that Ratner directed a feature, so I imagine he’s chomping at the bit to get back on a set.