Matthew McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto are at it again! After joining forces for a chilling season of Pizzolatto’s True Detective, the duo will team up for a feature adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s and Max Allan Collins’ Mike Hammer novels. The project hails from Skydance, which plans to develop the series for the silver screen. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger will produce alongside Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady, Benjamin Forkner, and Ken F. Levin. Collins serves as an executive producer, and Jane Spillane co-produces.
Mike Hammer emerged from a smoke-filled alley with the 1947-published novel I, the Jury. Hardboiled crime fiction fans quickly embraced Hammer as an investigator worth turning pages for, quickly transforming him into one of the genre’s most beloved characters. You’d be a fool to underestimate Mike Hammer’s influence. The hardened detective’s exploits helped inform the creation of icons like Dirty Harry, Jack Reacher, and James Bond, who Ian Fleming said is “the British answer to Mike Hammer.”
Whispers around the Hollywood water cooler suggest Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Nic Pizzolatto could reunite for another season of True Detective. However, nothing concrete is known, and now that the Mike Hammer project is going full steam, it could be a while before we hear anything more. According to Deadline, McConaughey copped to the script quickly, and the search for a director is officially on.
While it would be great to have Pizzolatto and McConaughey back on the beat for another season of True Detective, the Mike Hammer stories open a phone-book-sized case file of gritty cases for the duo to explore. If McConaughey and Pizzolatto want a franchise-starting property they can sink their teeth into, the Mike Hammer novels are primed and ready for long-haul adaptation.
What do you think about Matthew McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto reuniting for an adaptation of the Mike Hammer series? Would you prefer another season of True Detective featuring McConaughey and Harrelson? Have you read any Mike Hammer novels? Which one is your favorite? Will McConaughey be a great fit to play the shadowy detective on the big screen? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
