Did Jason Momoa And Dave Bautista Just Will A Buddy Cop Movie Into Existence?
Movies aren't only being made in Hollywood these days, folks. They're coming together on Twitter, too. "Zola" acted as the trendsetter when indie studio A24 swept in to nab the rights to the tale that first went viral on Twitter, detailing the unbelievable true story of A'Ziah "Zola" King and her road trip from hell. Can that possibly be one-upped? Well, we now have name-brand actors apparently trying to get in on the action. Jason Momoa seems to confirm that what started as a casual pitch tweet from fellow actor Dave Bautista might, in fact, be on its way to becoming a reality.
Making It Happen
Via The Wrap, Momoa recently guested on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" and the conversation turned around the 3-minute mark to his co-star Dave Bautista, who he works with on both the Apple TV+ drama series "See" as well as the upcoming adaptation of "Dune." You see, this all started when Bautista tweeted out his very specific wish to star in a movie with Momoa in a "'Lethal Weapon' type buddy cop movie" directed by David Leitch. You can see the tweet for yourself below, which immediately caused an entertaining stir on Film Twitter and even led to other actors like David Dastmalchian chiming in and pitching themselves for a role.
Just going to throw this out into the atmosphere and see what happens. Here we go… Me and Momoa in a Lethal Weapon type buddy cop movie directed by David Leitch. Ok! There it is. Now we wait.😬
— Vaxxed AF! #TeamPfizer Poor Kid Chasing Dreams. (@DaveBautista) August 19, 2021
Momoa, who isn't on Twitter, mentions that Bautista texted him about this idea four days prior and is visibly unable to contain himself over the excitement of actually making this movie into a reality. It's easy to see how Momoa might simply be kidding or overstating things, but when pressed he offers up some more details on their planned collaboration.
"He literally texted me about four days ago that we need to do a buddy cop film. I said absolutely. He said, let's do it in Hawaii. I said, let's do it! I've got an idea. So it's off to the races now, we're doing it."
This wouldn't exactly be the first time a movie came together that's essentially a thinly-veiled excuse for friends to hang out together in exotic locales and make some money while they're doing it, of course. But while it remains to be seen whether Leitch would have the interest or the time to jump into something like this, Momoa and Bautista seem to be keen on figuring out the details. In Momoa's typically lovable and dude-bro style, he discusses just what he and Bautista would bring to the proceedings.
"It sells itself, bro. Dave loves wearing Speedos. I love wearing board shorts. And both of us with our shirts off. He'll be grumpy and I'll be charming. Boom. It sells itself, bro. I have the hair. He doesn't have hair. We cover all the demographics."
No movie outside established blockbusters tend to be a sure thing, especially these days with pandemic-depressed box office receipts. But I'll wager that a buddy cop movie co-starring Bautista, a rapidly growing Film Twitter favorite, and Momoa, who has charisma and star power to spare, could bring all sorts of audiences together. Let's put it this way: there's plenty of worse ideas floating around Twitter that could potentially be turned into movies that nobody would ever see. Let's make this one happen instead, Powers That Be.