Hill, also responsible for The Foot Fist Way and HBO's Eastbound and Down, is writing and directing an untitled action-comedy project, set in the late '70s (the same era the Dukes first swerved into America's homes), which sources claim could morph into a Dukes of Hazzard reboot once producer Billy Gerber reads the first draft.
Gerber, incidentally, also served as producer for the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard adaptation, so there are major clues that this could well bring the General Lee back to screens.
The original TV series ran on CBS for seven years and followed Tom Wopat and John Schneider (better known to younger audiences as Clark Kent's dad in Smallville), as a pair of outlaw cousins who tear around the dirt roads of Georgia in their Dodge Charger, which they called The General Lee.
The series was also famous for popularising denim cut offs for women, which became known as Daisy Dukes. I think we can all agree this is a legacy worth protecting.
Sources close to the project claim Hill will make the movie in the mold of Sam Peckinpah, the gritty, uncompromising but effortless stylish director of The Wild Bunch, The Getaway and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.
Hill's previous works have a lot of style and a unique mastery of tone, relishing in the dark absurdities of hick-culture with an uncompromising attitude but a real affection, no matter how awful the characters appear.
If this script becomes a Dukes of Hazzard movie then I expect something similar to this years 21 Jump Street, a ridiculously filthy take on a beloved TV property, I hope this becomes a trend and we get a foul-mouthed Quantum Leap.
If this script remains an original property then I will still be happy because a film-maker as unique and divisive as Jody Hill is making a movie, either way.
Source: THR
