Robert Downey Jr. And Shane Black To Reteam For Parker Adaptation (No, Not That Parker)

Warner Bros.

By Joshua Meyer/Feb. 20, 2022 3:10 pm EST

According to the Hollywood insider newsletter, “Puck’s What I’m Hearing” (via ComicBook.com), Black will script the film, though it doesn’t mention if he is also directing. Black directed Downey in “Iron Man 3,” of course, but their history goes back further than that to Black’s directorial debut, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” which was instrumental in helping Downey make a comeback and win the “Iron Man” lead. Downey even went so far as to call “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” his best role, saying:

Westlake wrote two dozen “Parker” books under the pen name of Richard Stark. A number of those books have already been adapted into movies, starring the likes of Statham, Mel Gibson, Peter Coyote, Robert Duvall, Jim Brown, and Lee Marvin. “The Hunted” was adapted twice, into “Payback” and “Point Blank.” There are no details yet on which book Downey and Black are adapting, but the actor’s wife and production partner, Susan Downey of Team Downey, is producing along with Black’s old “Lethal Weapon” and “The Nice Guys” patron, Joel Silver.

“‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,’ which is, I think, in some ways the best film I’ve ever done. It wound up being a calling card. It came out, and it bombed, but Jon Favreau saw it, and he said, ‘This guy could do an action movie.’ And so that wound up being my calling card into the Marvel Universe.”

This could be another comeback for both of them

Universal Pictures

Even though he wound up only executive producing that series, letting Matthew Rhys take on the title role instead, it was an exciting prospect to imagine him acting outside the Marvel box in such a role. I get the same feeling imagining him as Parker in a Black-scripted film. 

In the ’80s and ’90s, Black first made a name for himself as a screenwriter (and occasional “Predator” beefcake) whose scripts would sometimes break the fourth wall with “Shane Blackisms.” The one for “Lethal Weapon” contained the immortal line:

EXT. POSH BEVERLY HILLS HOME – TWILIGHT

The kind of house that I’ll buy if this movie is a huge hit.