Bieber and Rain pair up for McG’s ‘Lethal Weapon Reloaded’

“Lethal Weapon” Japanese DVD Cover

In a Hollywood where increasingly nothing is sacred, it was announced yesterday that the Weinstein’s have started pre-production on a Lethal Weapon reboot, to be titled Lethal Weapon Reloaded. While there’s a certain inevitability about the movies we love eventually being remade, what will no doubt get fans of the original riled up is the casting choices in the remake.

Playing the part of Martin Riggs, the role which Mel Gibson made so memorable, is reformed (or so he would have us believe) pop star Justin Bieber. Taking on the role of Roger Murtaugh, originally played by Danny Glover, will be Korean pop icon Rain, who formerly starred in Ninja Assassin.

In a statement to the press, perhaps anticipating fans reaction, Harvey Weinstein had this to say – “We want to introduce the Lethal Weapon franchise to a new generation of fans, a generation who can feel the thrill of a Lethal Weapon movie the way we did almost 30 years ago. The decision behind Bieber was clear – he’s been through some tough times, played the fool, and now he’s come out the other side – all experiences that are essential to embodying the character of Riggs. As for Rain, he was an obvious choice. The original used the juxtaposition of the black and white cop and played it perfectly, and then the Rush Hour series used the same technique giving us an Asian cop and a black cop. People have seen enough black cops, so it’s time for a white cop and an Asian cop. Rain has proven to be the most exciting action talent since the late Bruce Lee tore up our screens, and now it’s time for the new generation to tear up the screen for a whole new audience.”

Initial reports have already noted that the theme song will be a duet between the two stars, and the man given the responsibility of bringing this bold re-envisioning to our screens has been given to McG. Weinstein stated, “We’re very happy to have a talent as big as McG on board for this project, we loved what he did for the Charlie’s Angels franchise, and firmly believe he’ll be able to do the same for Lethal Weapon.”

While the following has yet to be confirmed, it appears that the reboot will be going the same way as the lastest Transformers and Iron Man sequels, and be a China co-production, fuelling speculation that a recent photo of Rain hanging out with Taiwan pop star Jay Chou may indicate that Chou will be playing the villain, possibly as the son of Jet Li as a connection to the last installment.

What are your thoughts, could this reboot work, or would you rather have Gibson and Glover?

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