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Ulster actor Liam Neeson is in talks to star in a film version of hit ’80s television show The A Team.
According to reports in showbiz bible Variety, the Ballymena man has been in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to take on the role of Col John Hannibal Smith in a new movie adaptation.
It is understood Bradley Cooper is being considered to play Lt Templeton Faceman Peck in the Joe Carnahan-directed film.
Production is due to begin in late August for a June 11 2010 release, with British action specialists Ridley and Tony Scott pencilled in to produce the movie.
Neeson is believed to be lined up to play Hannibal, the role originated by the late George Peppard, while Cooper is expected to play Faceman, the role originally taken by Dirk Benedict in the TV series.
It’s the second major film for Neeson since the death of his actress wife Natasha Richardson in a freak skiing accident in Canada earlier this year.
The father of two is also to take on the role of Zeus in a remake of Clash of the Titans, opposite Ralph Fiennes in their first movie together since Schlinder’s List.
His most recent film Taken was a huge hit worldwide.
The makers of the new A Team movie have kept the series premise — four war vets wrongly convicted of armed robbery escape from a military prison to become do-gooder mercenaries — but they’ve replaced the campy nature of the series with a tone closer to those of Mission Impossible and Ocean’s Eleven.
Still to be cast are the roles of Captain Howling Mad Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz in the original show, and Sergeant BA Baracus, the role that made Mr T famous.
