Joel Silver is producing a new TV show for Esquire Network called “My Friends Call My Johnny,†featuring businessman Jean Pigozzi interviewing the celebrity friends he’s made around the world. Silver and Pigozzi were on a panel for the Television Critics Association this week, and after the panel Silver spoke briefly about some of his gestating film franchises.
In 2011 news of a Lethal Weapon reboot broke, but it has been largely silent ever since. Silver hinted that he still considers a new Riggs and Murtaugh a priority. “Yeah, we have something we’re talking about but it’s not ready to talk about yet,†Silver said. “Maybe something like [a reboot].â€
He did confirm that he’s not considering a Lethal Weapon 5 with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. “I don’t think that’s real. I don’t think so.â€
Likewise, 2011 also saw rumors of a fourth Matrix film. Silver kiboshed that one too, though indicated he’d be all for a real sequel. “I don’t think that’s real but I hope so. That’d be nice.â€
More likely to happen in the near future is Sherlock Holmes 3 with Robert Downey, Jr. Screenwriter Drew Pearce has now gone on to Mission: Impossible 5. “He was on it for a while. I think we have somebody else on that now but that’s coming together too.â€
Silver regular Shane Black has just signed on to direct a new Predator movie and cowrite the script with Fred Dekker. Silver produced the original and is still technically involved. “I own a piece of it but I’m hoping they pull something off.â€
However, Black’s next film is also with Silver. “The Nice Guys is a Shane Black script. It takes place int he late ‘70s and it’s a really great piece of material. It’s a script that Shane wrote a while ago. He came back to it after Iron Man and said, ‘I really want to do this.’ We put it together and it’s going to start shooting in October.â€
