We move over to talk about Bad Boys For Life, which Carnahan will be directing a script that he also wrote. I asked him how he came to be involved with the project as the two previous installments had been directed by Michael Bay. “That was from relationship with Tom Rothman at Sony and going in there and chatting with him,” he says. “He asked me about the different properties they had and Bad Boys 3 was there. And I thought that was interesting. It’s been a long time, but those are beloved characters. Those two films have a massive fan base. So I thought that was cool. And he asked if I want to write it and I said sure and handed in a draft that put the ball in play to see what happens.”
There has been a recent trend in Hollywood to dust off old franchises to see if they can breathe new life into them, with Star Wars, Independence Day and xXx being just a few examples. While not directly admitting Bad Boys 3 is just milking the cash cow, Carnahan speaks very highly and smartly about the business decision to bring back Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. “When you’re building out libraries and you’ve got something with market value gathering dust on the shelf, smart business tells you shouldn’t leave that sitting there if it can be plushed up and made into something,” he says. “I was going for my own kind of take on those two guys, and the general consensus of the story we wanted to tell felt like something that was necessary and contemporary and would make it work. That was always Will’s thing. You shouldn’t do the movie just to do it, we should have a reason – and we got a reason. And a really good one!”
While he works on Uncharted, his script for Bad Boys For Life is being looked over by Will Smith and the producers, with the movie set for release in 2018. For Smith, this could be a good chance to get his name back in audience’s good graces after several disappointing outings including Focus, Suicide Squad and After Earth. “Will has got to be one of the nicest guys on the planet in an endless way,” Carnahan says, his passion beaming through the phone. “I’ve been hanging out with him for the last year and I’ve never seen him be impolite or rude. No matter how many autographs he gets hounded for or how many pictures are taken, he responds with the same charm and good humour. I said to him once, ‘dude you’ve been doing this for so long, every time you get asked for a picture I see this really creaky old man at a lighthouse stand up and cross the room to dust off the light and sit back down’. And he says, ‘nah man that’s part of it’. He’s been a huge star for twenty plus years.”
Carnahan’s enthusiasm for Bad Boys For Life is clearly evident, and he ends our phone call by passionately talking about his time on the project. “It’s been a great time and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and shooting with these guys because I’m a big fan too, so that’s the best of both worlds,” he says. “You get to work at a really high level with great people who you admire tremendously.”
My thanks to Joe Carnahan for taking the time to speak with me. Bad Boys For Life is set for release in 2018 while Uncharted currently has no release date.
Originally published November 4, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
