11/03/2014

Cancelled Starz Series 'Magic City' is Now a Movie with Bruce Willis and Bill Murray



Starz gave their Miami mobster drama Magic City a couple of seasons before giving it the ax, the series never really getting off the ground despite a talented cast. The show starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Kelly Lynch, and a hammy Danny Huston in the Mitch Glazer-created series set in the late 1950s at a glamorous hotel post-Cuban Revolution. And apparently somebody thinks the premise is just too good to let die because Magic City is now to become a feature film, with some pretty big names coming aboard to make it happen.

According to Deadline, Bruce Willis (!), and Bill Murray (!!) are joining the Magic City film, which Glazer will write and direct with Brett Ratner on board to produce. Wha?!? The first thought in your mind is probably "Oh, I can't get a Deadwood movie or The Wire but Magic City!?!?!?". I feel your pain. Anyway, the story takes place in 1962 when Morgan's powerful hotel owner contends with gangsters, spies, socialites, slimy politicians, Cuban freedom fighters armed by the CIA, and a possible plot to assassinate Castro. Good lord this sounds like a mess. Willis will sign on to anything so his involvement isn't a big deal, but what about the notoriously picky Murray? He and Glazer are buds having worked on Scrooged, the atrocious Passion Play, and the upcoming Middle Eastern rock music comedy (!!!!) Rock the Kasbah, which also features Willis.

So there ya go. The original cast is expected to return whenever production gears up.