Shawn Levy Dishes on Cruise/Stiller Development Hell
Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy has been attached to the Hardy Boys reimaging, Hardy Men. The film has been much discussed as a pet project for Ben Stiller to costar with his Tropic Thunder costar Tom Cruise. Now, Levy tells Starpulse what’s (not) happening with the film.
“Developing a movie for a movie star is hard. Developing a movie for two movie stars is a very, very challenging enterprise. The bull’s eye is small and the tone has to be exactly right. So we are still working on it.
Yes, I saw how well Ben and Tom got along and that’s what gave me the idea of wait a second, I’ve got to do a movie with them together. Wait a second, let’s do The Hardy Men with them together. That brainchild came about because I saw their chemistry as friends.”
Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise
Since a Hardy movie likely hinges on the mystery element, the mystery itself is a big deal and a sticking point with Hardy Men (a little detail of the plot that Ben’s Tropic costar Robert Downey Jr. should have figured out prior to filming Sherlock Holmes, but we digress). Levy addresses the problem developing the mystery and making it more adult in nature, ”We have tried several. No we have not locked in on one.”
Finally, Levy acknowledges that the film has some fervent fans. ”Yes, certainly among a certain quadrant of the audience, no movie on my IMDB page is as anticipated as Hardy Men.” Count us as a major part of that quadrant!
I like the idea of a Stiller/Cruise movie, but Hardy Men sounded dreadful