By Erin Free
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Love it or hate it, big screen adaptations of popular TV shows are here to stay, and one series ripe for reinvention is The Professionals, the hardboiled British action show created by Brian Clemens (The Avengers, Thriller), which ran from 1977-1983. Though a big screen version of The Professionals has been touted before, the project has stalled completely, with no casting announcements ever made…which is where we come in! The Professionals is based around the fictional British law enforcement agency, CI5, which deals with cases falling outside the jurisdiction of the police and the military. The focus is on tough-as-nails agents, Ray Doyle (a former cop who has worked London’s most violent and volatile patches) and William Bodie (an ex-paratrooper, mercenary, and SAS sergeant), who bang heads with terrorists, spies, assassins, paramilitary groups, and assorted other nefarious criminals, all under the watchful eye of their equally hardnosed boss, George Cowley. Tough, fast-paced, thrilling and topical, The Professionals (along with the equally iconic The Sweeney, which itself was remade…horribly) is the bustling best of seventies/eighties British television.
WHY WOULD IT MAKE A GOOD MOVIE?
Regularly dealing with political issues of its time (often stemming from The Cold War, and London’s fractious social strata), The Professionals could be cogently adapted for the new millennium, taking in topics such as terrorism and modern organised crime. At its heart, however, The Professionals would essentially be an action buddy flick, and would best be staged as an origin story, taking in the meeting and first case of Ray Doyle and William Bodie, setting up their backstories and initially uneasy working relationship in the beginning of what could obviously be a continuing franchise.
WHO SHOULD MAKE IT?
Though he has made his name with the ball-tearing Indonesian action bolters, Merantau and The Raid, highly regarded director, Gareth Evans, is actually Welsh-born, which gives him the right pedigree to helm the decidedly British-in-tone-and-attitude The Professionals. An upcoming action auteur of the first order, Evans has proven himself adept at choreographing martial arts, knife-work and gunplay, and would be the perfect pick to guide the uncompromising, intelligent, pulse pounding juggernaut that The Professionals needs to be.
WHO SHOULD BE IN IT?
As the tough but sensitive Ray Doyle (originally played by Martin Shaw) – who has a tendency to let his emotions get the better of him, often leading the tenacious ex-cop to rush into dangerous situations – Britain’s premier movie action hero, Jason Statham (The Transporter, Killer Elite), would be an obvious but spot-on piece of casting. For Doyle’s wise cracking, hard partying tough guy partner, William Bodie (initially essayed by Lewis Collins), the increasingly popular Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, The Revenant, Mad Max Fury Road) has just the right mix of charisma, charm, and physicality to play this seasoned soldier and trouble-shooter. Meanwhile, Brit hardman, Ray Winstone (Nil By Mouth, The Departed), could rein in the explosive pair as George Cowley (Gordon Jackson on television), himself a former military man and anti-authoritarian bad boy.
Am I the only one thinking that Tom Hardy looks quite a bit like Martin Shaw? As such, he could play either Bodie, as you suggested, or Doyle.
As Cowley I would rather see Iain Glen or Hugh Laurie than Ray Winstone.