According to , writer/director Joe Carnahan has left Bad Boys For Life. The official story is that the filmmaker has bounced from the film due to scheduling conflicts, but industry sources claim it was actually over creative differences. The third film in Bad Boys franchise, it has constantly been postponed ever since it was announced, leading me to think that star Will Smith no longer really wants to make it or its also-announced follow-up, Bad Boys 4. The report claims that the project is still full steam ahead and in search of a new director and screenplay, but I have my doubts. At this point, I’ll believe a Bad Boys 3 exists when it finally begins shooting.
As for Carnahan? Chalk this up to another instance of bad luck for the filmmaker. It isn’t the first time that a star’s constant postponements (or outright quitting) has tanked one of his films before. Such a thing has famously happened to him three times previously, with George Clooney losing interest in a White Jazz adaptation, Christian Bale cooling on Killing Pablo, and Reese Witherspoon walking from his remake of Bunny Lake Is Missing at the last minute. That’s not even including Tom Cruise killing his iteration of Mission: Impossible III late in the game either.
Lucky for Carnahan, he has a number of other projects in the works. The adaptation of Uncharted that he wrote is in pre-production, Jackie Chan-starring film he is producing for Sony (Five Against A Bullet) is still on the way, and the Death Wish remake that he wrote is currently screen testing. Beyond that, he’s writing (and potentially directing) X-Force for Fox and he’s prepping a remake of The Raid to direct, with actor Frank Grillo on board to star. Speaking of Grillo, their Netflix collaboration (Wheelman) should be arriving in front of our eyeballs later this year. All in all, things are still looking up for the guy.
