Safdie Brothers Sign On For Remake Of Buddy Cop Film ‘48 Hrs’

Image by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images

By Daniel Witkin December 15, 2017

The announcements of most Hollywood remakes prompts groans and eye rolls. Yesterday, however, heralded news interesting enough to make one say, “OK. Let’s see where this goes.”

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the directors of “Good Time,” brothers Ben and Josh Safdie, are set to remake Walter Hill’s 1982 buddy cop film “48 Hrs,” which starred Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as, respectively, a hard boiled cop and the fast-talking con whose help he needs to find a killer. Birth.Movies.Death has reported that Jerrod Carmichael will play Murphy’s role, and will also write the film’s script alongside Ben Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, who wrote the Safdies’ recent flick “Good Time.”

“48 Hrs” is an intuitive match for the Safdies, who are coming off the substantial critical success of “Good Time,” which was recently chosen by Film Comment as the best film of 2017. (You can read the Forward’s take here). Starring Robert Pattinson as a criminal on the run through nocturnal New York, the film featured many elements associated with 1980s action films, including a pulsating synth score and a stylistic palette oscillating between grit and phosphorescence. The brothers included Hill’s “48 hrs” in an August series they curated at New York’s Metrograph highlighting films that influenced “Good Time.”

Still, there are questions. Who will be cast to fill Nolte’s role? Will the film include a role for Safdie favorite Buddy Duress? And now that New York’s young indie filmmakers are remaking Walter Hill films, when will be seeing Alex Ross Perry’s version of “The Warriors?”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO