The Purge: Anarchy star Frank Grillo will continue his reign as an action hero in a limited series remake of the Sylvester Stallone neo-noir thriller, Nighthawks. The actor, who is best known for his roles in The Purge franchise, the television series Kingdom, and as Crossbones in the MCU, has now confirmed that the Nighthawks series will not only feature Grillo in the lead, but will be helmed by none other than Stallone himself.
“We’re redoing Nighthawks as a limited TV series – eight episodes. I’m playing him. He’s directing, he’s gonna direct ’em, and then he’s gonna be in it…It’s happening as we speak, we’re selling it right now.”
Released in 1981, Nighthawks is one of Stallone’s lesser-known outings, and follows the action icon as the kind of hard-nosed character that he plays so well, Sergeant Deke DaSilva. Fresh from mounting a devastating bomb attack in London, an international terrorist arrives in New York and remains intent upon wreaking further bloody havoc. His preparation is clinical and thorough but he overlooks one thing – the grit and steely determination of one New York cop.
Directed by Bruce Malmuth and starring the likes of Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, Nigel Davenport, and Rutger Hauer alongside Stallone, Nighthawks is prime for a modern-day remake, and with Frank Grillo at its center and Stallone both behind and in front of the camera, all the ingredients are there for an action thriller delight. Nighthawks helped solidify Stallone as a Hollywood mega-star.
Grillo sounds as excited as can be over the prospect of working with Sylvester Stallone on a remake on one of his movies, with the actor happy to be at a place in his career when he can star in projects helmed by his heroes. “I’m like you, I love Rocky, I just love Stallone and I’m at this point where I’m sitting across from him and he’s telling me I’m the only guy to play the role…This is AMAZING!” Grillo said.
Frank Grillo has several action movie projects in the pipeline, and will next be seen battling fellow action hero Gerard Butler in director Joe Carnahan’s Copshop. Screaming through the Nevada desert in a bullet-ridden Crown Vic, wily con artist Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) hatches a desperate plan to hide out from lethal hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler): He sucker-punches rookie officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) to get himself arrested and locked up in a small-town police station. But jail can’t protect Murretto for long. Viddick schemes his own way into detention, biding his time in a nearby cell until he can complete his mission. When the arrival of a competing assassin (Toby Huss) ignites all-out mayhem, mounting threats force Viddick to get creative if he wants to finish the job and escape the explosive situation.
Frank Grillo is also due to star alongside Bruce Willis in A Day to Die, Donnie Yen in The Father, and will lead director Kevin Carraway’s M.I.A., with Grillo starring as a man who wakes strapped to a chair with no memory of who he is and spends the day trying to stay alive and solve the mystery behind the man he sees staring back in the mirror.
Copshop is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 17, 2021, by Open Road Films. This comes to us courtesy of The Beard and The Bald Movie Podcast.