With the way 2020 has been going, Bad Boys For Life may end up being the most successful movie of the year. The third entry in the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop franchise proved to be a surprisingly great action film with coherent set pieces and a mature story that balanced the duo’s relationship with villains who ended up having a more personal connection to our heroes.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah took over directing duties from Michael Bay, who was busy making 6 Underground and the transition was seamless. They even managed to include a few classic Bay shots like the hero shot of Mike and Marcus rising in slow-mo as the camera rotates around them.
It was the first big movie for the directing duo and it even managed to get the attention of the execs over at Marvel. They previously met with the studio to discuss a future project, but at the time, they were coy on specifics, saying:
“Well there’s nothing concrete. They just met us,” said El Arbi. “They said they liked the movie and they just told us, ‘Yo, what do you wanna do? Let’s find something to work together on.’ So there’s nothing really planned yet, it was just like a meeting. But yeah, we’ll see if we find something cool.”
But now, the pair are opening up a little more on what they’d be interested in making for Marvel. In an interview with Discussing Film, they said they’re particularly focused on a certain R-rated character.
Adil El Arbi: “There’s so much. You know, we love Deadpool.”
Bilall Fallah: “We love Deadpool!”
Adil El Arbi: “Definitely. I mean there is more of an edge. If there was a Marvel character in the Bad Boys world…”
Bilall Fallah: “It would be Deadpool.”
Their second choice would be Blade, another more violent Marvel superhero who the studio has plans for down the road with two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali attached to star in a solo project. But Arbi and Fallah would be open to making a PG-13 movie as well if the story was right. “There are stories that are PG and correspond to the world that you don’t need to do an R rating if it doesn’t fit,” said Arbi.
Of course, either character – Blade or Deadpool – would fit these guy’s sensibilities as filmmakers. Personally, I like the idea of a new director for each Deadpool movie, but they also seem like a good fit to relaunch Blade. Bad Boys For Life actually kind of felt like a Marvel film with the way they handled the villains and the backstory of the main characters. For the first time in the franchise’s history, it felt like a much bigger universe.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has a history of finding out-of-the-box filmmakers to make their movies, whether it’s Taika Waititi with Thor: Ragnarok, indie filmmaker Jon Watts with Spider-Man or even the Russo Brothers, who were known for television before making four fantastic MCU films. If there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that Feige knows how to find talent.
Arbi and Fallah seem like a more logical pick than even the names I just mentioned as well. After all, they’ve already made a successful big studio franchise movie and a future between the two parties makes complete sense at this point.
