Ben Stiller arrives at the premiere of Narc copyright Sue Schneider
© 2002 Sue Schneider

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Starsky & Hutch

Genre:
Action/Crime/Television Adaptation.

Studio:
Warner Bros./Dimension Films

Production Company:
Weed Road Productions/Eagle Cove Entertainment.

Project Phase:
Post-production.

Who's In It:
Ben Stiller (Starsky); Owen Wilson (Hutch); Snoop Dogg (Huggy Bear); Vince Vaughn; Carmen Elektra.

Who's Making It:
Todd Phillips (Director); Todd Phillips, John O'Brien, Scot Armstrong (Screenwriters); Akiva Goldsman, Tony Ludwig, Alan Riche, William Blinn, Stuart Cornfeld (Producers); based on the TV series Starsky & Hutch.

Premise:
Two detectives, their police chief, one street-wise pimp and the hottest pair of street racing wheels television has ever seen; that my friends was Starsky & Hutch.

Release Date:
March 5, 2004.

Comments:
The TV show aired from 1975 to 1980 and ran 92 episodes.

Scoop Feedback:

August 27, 2001... Rumors of a Starsky & Hutch movie first surfaced earlier this year -- except they weren't really rumors. Warner Bros. acquired the movie rights to the popular 1970s series that starred Paul Michael Glaser (the dark-haired cop) and David Soul (the blond cop). WB executive Jeff Robinov is overseeing the development of the project. Tony Ludwig, Alan Riche and Akiva Goldsman are the producers, and some guy named Steve Long is writing the screenplay.

Things heated up in the spring when Ben Stiller made an off-the-cuff remark that he and Vince Vaughn would like to play the crime-fightin' duo in a big screen movie. We get the feeling that Warner Bros. is looking at a feature film version of Starsky & Hutch more along the lines of Columbia Pictures' Charlie's Angels,
which reimagined the franchise as an action/comedy. Since the Angels movie grossed more than $120 million at the box office in North America, the time could be ideal for a Starsky & Hutch movie.

With the Stiller/Vaughn comments reawakening interest in the property, original Starsky & Hutch star David Soul (the blond guy; he played Det. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson) sent out an email to the online Starsky & Hutch community talking about what he knows about the movie (or really, what little he does know.) Soul also reveals that he has an idea for a Starsky & Hutch movie too, but that his idea would reunite himself and Paul Michael Glaser (the dark-haired one; he played Det. Dave Starsky) and tie up twenty years of loose ends left dangling when the TV series concluded in 1980.

August 15, 2001



Dear Everyone,



This letter is occasioned by the recent purchase by Warner Brothers of the film rights to Starsky and Hutch, followed by the announcement that a film starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn is in development. I know the first part to be true; Warner's did purchase the rights. The second half I heard via the grapevine which is usually wrong. However, there is enough credence surrounding the information I have, that I would like to respond ...positively, I hope.



First I'd like to say that Warner Brothers is well within their rights to do any version, sequel or remake of a Starsky & Hutch film they want to do. It's the way business works they days (trademark & brand names is where it's at) and they do own the copyright. They believe that by casting two young "box-office" types and pandering to a certain kind of 70's nostalgia, they will make money. As superficial an approach to entertainment as that may be,
I can't really argue with the philosophy behind how they choose to make, market or distribute their product these days. It's all big business. I don't like it, but that's the "name of the game".



On-the-other-hand, what the execs at Warner's are missing in their equation is a huge built in audience world-wide that immediately identifies Paul Glaser and David Soul with Starsky & Hutch. Warners is flying in the face of their own demographics and business philosophy. How will they change the perception of the mass viewing public that cuts across international boundaries, that 'Starsky & Hutch' are NOW suddenly, 25 years later, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn or two other actors for that matter?



When the show began in 1975, Starsky and Hutch was a "water-shed" series. There was really nothing like it on television and that it has lasted so long (even after it finished production) and has illicited the kind of affection from so many millions world wide is a testimony to its genuine uniqueness ... for whatever reasons: chemistry, timing, friendship, issues, humour, action, audience identification ...even the car. The fact is a whole generation grew up with Starsky and Hutch and the series paved the way for a whole raft of "buddy-cop" television series and films that followed. Now, suddenly Starsky and Hutch are going to be two new, "manufactured" characters with whom no one can identify. I don't believe the public will go for it and I believe that Warner's are shooting themselves in the foot.



How much more clever it would be if Warner's were to produce a film that capitalized on the real friendship between Paul and myself as well as the huge following that still exists internationally and made a film that brought closure to the Starsky and Hutch legacy; a legacy which is so much a part of the lives of those who are now in their late twenties to their mid-40's. Paul and I do not want to do a sequel or remake of the series. We want to do an intelligent, contemporary film built around a contemporary issue and built on a relationship that for us started back in the mid-sixties, ended in 1980 and then resurfaced in 2002. The subject of the film would involve something that caused S & H to split acrimoniously in 1980 and that is finally resolved in 2002. The point of the film (finally) is that true friendship is stronger and more lasting than enmity, although the path to reconciliation may be difficult. This would be the fitting and final legacy of Starsky and Hutch.



As we 'rally the troops', I think it's important that we give logic to our argument as opposed to simply "SOUR GRAPES". "No, we don't like what you're doing, Warner Brothers ... but beyond that it ... it really makes no sense and will not, in our opinion, work in your own self-interest".



What I think we should say is that we (the audience) will get behind something that "we" want to see and that garners the support of people who grew up with S & H and still love it or view it with respect and affection. I think this can be the basis for a real and successful marketing campaign ... a campaign that will peak the imagination of the film-going audience. (Think John Cassavetes and Peter Falk)



Second thought: Can you all think of any way to perhaps access a larger number of people on the net than just our immediate DSAC & friends? Could we use the DSAC as the instigator perhaps and the kick-off point of a "campaign" and then maybe open the effort up to invite and enjoin other networks of people or organizations in support? Maybe we could find a marketing company that would be willing to work with us ... providing us with their lists, etc.? Normally, that would cost; but, maybe there is a company out there that would be willing, for the right reasons and for old time's sake, to come on board and broaden the campaign. Just a thought. What do you think?



The point is this, as crazy as it all sounds: I'd like to use the net to express our strong feelings about completing the cycle of S & H and then generate enough "positive" objection to Warner's proposed film to cause Warner's to seriously reconsider their plans. What we are saying to Warner's (before they commit to a film) is that the viewers should have a voice in determining what film they want to see. If the decision is purely corporate and doesn't respond to the desires of their potential audience, the film is destined to fail. That's called the power of interactivity or Interactive Consumer Power... and if you think about it, the marketing approach I've suggested above could very well work in the self-interest of Warner Bros.



I'd love to hear yours and others opinions ... what do you think REALISTICALLY, from the viewpoint of the fan as well as the viewpoint of the ordinary audience-viewer (not necessarily part of 'fandom'). Sometimes the viewpoint of the fan gets skewered by their own predisposition. If we are to make any headway, this whole campaign has to ring of legitimacy rather than "hurt feelings".



Anyway, thank you all for your ongoing interest and support. You're great!



Warm regards,


DAVID SOUL

[Forwarded to us by an anonymous friend of Huggie Bear.

July 31, 2002... MTV talked to Todd Phillips about the Starsky & Hutch movie, and he said that Ben Stiller is all but confirmed since the actor is also one of the film's producers. As for Owen Wilson, he may sign on if the script is good enough. Snoop Dogg is interested in the role of Huggy Bear and Phillips is interested in having the rapper in the movie but no contract has been signed just yet.

The movie's story will be the origin of how the guys came together, with an emphasis on the comedy in the action-comedy genre. [Reported by Mr. Black; first appeared on MTV.]

September 25, 2002... Owen Wilson has made it official: he's signed a contract to play the big screen version of Hutch. Wilson now joins Ben Stiller as the first two cast members (and most important) in this production. According to Variety, the movie will be updated from the 70s and set in the modern day. It will also chronicle the origin of the partnership between the two cops. [Scoops sent in by Ben, Greg, Shawn Bill and 'Geek Boy'.]

November 20, 2002... Today's Hollywood Reporter confirms past suspicions that rapper Snoop Dogg is the leading candidate to play Starsky and Hutch's man on the street, Huggy Bear. The Dogg might even be able to furnish his own felt-rimmed pimp hat. [Source: THR.]

February 5, 2003... Dimension Films has agreed to co-finance the big-screen Starsky & Hutch film after the picture's budget jumped upwards. It seems that the film's director thought the movie would be better suited to be set in the 70s and not present day, which elevated the cost of the picture considerably. Variety reports that the budget for Starsky & Hutch is now past $60 million smackeroos. [Source: Variety.]

April 9, 2003... Owen's got a girlfriend, Owen's got a girlfriend, nah nah na na nah!

Sorry. It's just that Carmen Elektra, the brunette beauty from Baywatch and such slo-mo underwear sequences as found in the opening of Scary Movie, has been cast as Owen Wilson's girlfriend in the Starsky & Hutch movie. Wilson, if you recall, is playing Hutch opposite Ben Stiller as
Starsky.

Filming starts today on the Warner Bros./Dimension Films co-production. A release date hasn't been announced yet. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter.]

January 14, 2004... Warner Bros. has just furnished us with the final one-sheet poster design for the STARSKY & HUTCH movie. Gaze upon the 'do's of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in all their '70s glory!

STARSKY & HUTCH opens March 5, dawg. [Warner Bros.]