- After much chatter, True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto is actually linking back up with Matthew McConaughey for a feature-length Mike Hammer adaptation.
- The hardboiled private detective conceived by Mickey Spillane notably inspired Dirty Harry, Jack Reacher, James Bond, and plenty more in crime/thriller fiction.
- McConaughey hasn’t fronted a live-action feature since Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen in 2019, while Pizzolatto’s writing hasn’t hit the big screen since The Guilty starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
The long-awaited reunion has faced several speed bumps in the decade since True Detective changed the game, but Matthew McConaughey and celebrated Hollywood scribe Nic Pizzolatto finally have something cooking again.
According to Deadline, the powerhouse duo are revisiting the crime thriller genre with another feature-length adaptation of the iconic Mike Hammer – your classic post-war, hardboiled private investigator who debuted in Mickey Spillane’s 1947 novel I, The Jury; and notably inspired the likes of Dirty Harry, Jack Reacher, as well as James Bond.
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In fact, Ian Fleming himself famously referred to 007 as the “British answer to Mike Hammer.”
The production is set at Skydance, having acquired the rights to Spillane and Max Allan Collins’ Mike Hammer franchise with plans to develop, produce, and adapt the bestselling book series for the big screen.
Print aside, the character has appeared in multiple films (feature and made-for-television), as well as countless episodes of four distinct series (the first starring Darren McGavin; the latter trio with Stacy Keach).
This comes in the wake of the recent revelation that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are keen to reprise their beloved roles as Detective Rustin “Rust” Cohle and Detective Martin “Marty” Hart, respectively, for another season of True Detective.
During a recent appearance on Tim Green’s Nothing Left Unsaid podcast, Nic Pizzolatto indicated that while nothing had been committed to a screenplay just yet, it’d involve the enthusiastic return of both leading men.
“I actually have another story for Cohle and Hart that, who knows, maybe we’ll do it one day,” said the Emmy-nominated showrunner and producer (via Deadline), before clarifying it wasn’t a strict continuation of season 1’s plot.
“But no, there is pressure, but I don’t really feel or respond to pressure that way. I get pressure [from] myself and beyond that it doesn’t exist so much for me, and pressure tends to more revolve around, am I discharging my duty correctly for me?”
Pizzolatto was obviously evasive about the plot details, adding: “If I said something on your show, there would be like five spec scripts going around Hollywood. No, I mean, it’s character-based again, that’s all, but it’s not something I’ve written or anything.”
“It’s just, ‘Oh, I had that in my head,’ and we’ve talked about getting back together and doing it and I think the guys are open to it. It’s just a question of whether that would ever happen or not.”
Prior to this, Nic Pizzolatto sent fans into a meltdown with the earlier revelation that he’d written a genuine sequel to the crime drama’s universally acclaimed debut season.
And just to dump a proverbial gasoline on the equally-proverbial campfire, he confirmed that both McConaughey and Harrelson had even sat down for a table read of the script, then dubbed True Detective: The Return. But the difference between this iteration and the latest story idea remains unclear.
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“Shame we’ll probably never get to film it… What a story. Ah, well,” the series creator caveated in an Instagram post.
Regardless of whatever actually materialises from the rumoured sequel, HBO clearly sees value in expanding the cinematic universe. Hence why True Detective season 5 is still going ahead, and this time, it’ll be against the living-breathing backdrop of the partially man-made southern estuary that is Jamaica Bay, New York.
Keep an eye out here for updates on Nic Pizzolatto and Matthew McConaughey’s Mike Hammer movie (further casting, plot details, release date, trailer, etc.).
