‘Urban Cowboy’ TV Remake Coming From ‘Hustle & Flow’ Director Craig Brewer
Urban Cowboywill be the next movie to get a small-screen makeover. Paramount TV and 20th Century Fox TV are firing up a TV remake of the 1980John Travoltamovie about love and drama in a Houston bar.Craig Brewer(Footloose,Hustle and Flow) will write, executive produce, and direct the pilot.
More on theUrban CowboyTV remake after the jump.
The originalUrban Cowboychronicled the tumultuous relationship between Bud (Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger), who meet at a honky-tonk bar in Houston. It was frequently compared to Travolta’s 1977 hitSaturday Night Fever, and kickstarted the mechanical bull-riding trend.
According toVariety, the newUrban Cowboywill keep the Bud and Sissy romance, but move the action “against the gritty backdrop of rodeos, oil refineries, line dancing clubs and other aspects of modern-day Texas.” Fox considers it a potential companion piece to its freshman hitEmpire.
Besides Brewer, originalUrban CowboyproducerRobert Evansand former HBO Entertainment presidentSusan Naeglewill executive produce. No other writers or stars have been announced as of yet.
Paramount TV has recently had a lot of success mining its film stable for source material. It’s also teaming with Fox TV for next season’sMinority Report, a follow-up to the 2002 Tom Cruise movie. It has shows based onSchool of Rock,Shooter, andGalaxy Questcoming down the pipeline as well.
Of course, they’re not the only studio to look to its film resume for inspiration. Within the next year or so, we’re also getting TV versions ofUncle Buck(ABC),Limitless(CBS),Rush Hour(CBS),Scream(MTV), andWestworld(HBO). And those are just the ones that are actually happening; there aremany many morein development.
Brewer last directed a different ’80s remake,Footloose, and was (as of last year)linked toyet another ’80s remake,The Idolmaker. In addition, he recently executive produced the Katy Perry documentaryPart of Me.
