Well, here’s a fun and unexpected bit of casting buzz that actually seems to make a lot of sense to us. The TV detective series Columbo ran for quite a large amount of time, starting out in the ’60s and continuing sporadically up until 2003, with the late Peter Falk in the lead role of the disheveled, affable and wordy detective, who discreetly ran circles around the crooks he was chasing while making them underestimate him with his ostensible absentmindedness. Now, we’re hearing that a Columbo movie may be coming down the pipeline, with an intriguing actor primed to take the lead role – Mark Ruffalo.
Before we go any further, this could turn out to be empty rumblings, but some very interesting tweets went out yesterday between screenwriter Gary Whitta (currently hard at work on a Star Wars spinoff), a user known as “Mystery Executive” and Ruffalo:
Oh hey, @MarkRuffalo and I are both repped by UTA. Which means I’m about 0.00001% closer to getting this done. #Columbo
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) July 16, 2014
@garywhitta @MarkRuffalo UTA is busy packaging this. Coens to direct? — [Mystery Executive] (@MysteryExec) July 16, 2014
@MysteryExec @garywhitta Ed Soloman approached me on this about a month ago. We are thinking a movie. — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) July 16, 2014
I’d love to see a Columbo movie, and Ruffalo does seem like a pretty solid fit for the role. Solomon is known in Hollywood for penning Charlie’s Angels and Now You See Me, but he hadn’t been affiliated with a Columbo project until Ruffalo roped him into the discussion in the above tweet. It’s currently unclear whether he’d be writing the script or whether Whitta would (or even if a Columbo movie is in development at all).
As you can tell, it’s really just rumors at this point, but the possibility of Ruffalo stepping into the role is a tantalizing one, to be sure. We’ll keep you posted as more on a potential big screen adventure for Columbo emerges.
Published: Jul 16, 2014 12:42 pm