Austin Butler in Early Talks For New ‘Miami Vice’ Movie

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(Left) Austin Butler stars in ‘Elvis.’ (Right) Don Johnson in the TV series ‘Miami Vice’. Photo: NBC/Universal.

Preview:

Austin Butler is in early talks for the new ‘Miami Vice’ movie.
Joseph Kosinski is directing.
If he does sign on, Butler would join Michael B. Jordan in the film.

Well, we were at least close with our guess.

Some context: you might recall that recently we brought word that Michael B. Jordan was in early talks to play Detective Ricardo Tubbs in ‘F1’ director Joseph Kosinski’s planned new movie based on iconic cop series ‘Miami Vice’.

We speculated then that Glen Powell might take on the role of fellow cop Sonny Crockett, but it appears Kosinski is looking to hire a different young rising star.

Per Variety, Austin Butler, who has been seen in the likes of ‘Elvis,’‘Dune: Part Two’ and ‘Caught Stealing’, is in the nascent stages of making his own deal to play Crockett.

What’s the story of ‘Miami Vice’?

(L to R) Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in the TV series ‘Miami Vice’. Photo: NBC/Universal.

‘Miami Vice’ began life in the early 1980s as a TV show created by ‘Hill Street Blues’ writer Anthony Yerkovich, after NBC president Brandon Tartikoff requested a program that combined the style of MTV with a cop series. The result, produced by Michael Mann, starred Don Johnson as Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Tubbs, two detectives working undercover in Miami. The show, which ran for five seasons from 1984 to 1990, became known for its groundbreaking visual style, its hip needle drops, and the fashions worn by its characters, arguably revolutionizing the look of TV crime drama for decades to come.

After Mann moved into directing feature films with ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ ‘Heat,’ and others, he rebooted ‘Miami Vice’ as a 2006 movie starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as Crockett and Tubbs. While not initially a hit with either critics or audiences, the film has since been reappraised and is now considered a cult classic.

Where else can we see Austin Butler?

Austin Butler stars as Hank in Columbia Pictures ‘Caught Stealing’. Photo by: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. **ALL IMAGES ARE PROPERTY OF SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INC. FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY. SALE, DUPLICATION OR TRANSFER OF THIS MATERIAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Butler is attached to or rumored for a number of upcoming projects, including Mann’s ‘Heat 2’, Don Winslow adaptation ‘City on Fire’ and could end up playing Patrick Bateman for Luca Guadagnino’s new take on ‘American Psycho.’