DirectorKevin Smithhas been keeping quite busy over the past few years, launching his True North Trilogy in 2014 withTusk, with the next installment,Yoga Hosers, set to debut this summer. The filmmaker also returned to the small screen recently, directing an episode of The CW’s hit superhero seriesThe Flash, which aired last week. It seems the filmmaker is eyeing another TV project, with an adaptation of the 1984 cult classicThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. As it turns out, the director’s work onThe Flashis what actually lead to this opportunity to bringBuckaroo Banzaiback to life.
The director revealed the news on hisHollywood Babble-Onpodcast, saying that “weird doors” started to open after his episode ofThe Flashaired last week. One of those doors was to MGM, who told the director’s agent they had been exploring ways to turnThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimensioninto a TV series. Here’s what the director had to say about his initial conversations with MGM, all of which happened within the last week.
“The one I went in for today is pretty f—ing massive, it goes back to my childhood and s–t. I was meeting with MGM. Does anyone know the movieThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension? It’s one of my favorite movies in the world and largely responsible for the weird s‑‑‑ that I make, because that movie was supposed to be one thing but it did it in another way. It just did it very off-center. I’ve loved it for years. Because I did the episode ofThe Flash… I kind of got pulled into the scripted world. MGM said we heard you likeBuckaroo Banzai, so they called my agent and said ‘We think we’d like to talk to him. We tookFargoand turned it into a series and we have another property we want to do that with another property. Has he ever heard ofBuckaroo Banzai?'”
The original movie followed the title character, played byPeter Weller, an adventurer/surgeon/rock star, who takes on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension alongside his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers. The movie also starredJohn Lithgow,Ellen Barkin,Jeff GoldblumandChristopher Lloyd. While it only made $6.2 million during its theatrical run, it became a cult classic in the years that followed. The director went on to reveal how his agent called him about MGM wanting to talk to him, and they wanted to turn this cult classic movie into a TV series, while also teasing his approach to the series.
“Basically, you just do the entire movie for season one, and then season two you finally do the sequel we’ve all dreamed about,: Buckaroo Banzai Versus the World Crime League. So we went back and forth and before you know it, we were in business together. We finished this deal to developBuckaroo Banzai, and in the next month, we take it out and try to find a home for it. These cats are very good at finding homes for things, so if all goes well, I think we’ll be doingBuckaroo Banzaias a series.”
It isn’t known ifKevin Smithwill be writing the pilot script himself, or if he will direct the first episode, but we’ll have to wait and see if the show finds a home on a network or streaming service. The filmmaker hinted that there has already been early interest from unspecified parties, so we’ll have to wait and see how this unfolds. Be sure to stay tuned for more developments regarding thisBuckaroo BanzaiTV series. In the meantime, you can listen toKevin Smith’s latest Hollywood Babble-Onpodcastbelow, with theBuckaroo Banzaitalk coming at the 11-minute mark.
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