Spy vs. Spy was always one of my favorite parts of Mad Magazine as a kid. Seeing the silly, clever and often-violent antics of the White Spy and the Black Spy was a lesson in silent comedy and slapstick. It’s kind of a wonder that a movie based on the comic strip never got made.
Hollywood has tried to make a Spy vs. Spy film, it is one of the those projects that never got out of the initial script phase, though multiple directors and writers have been attached. And now a new director is on board, meaning we may finally see Spy vs. Spy on the big screen.
Collider states that Rawson Marshall Thurber, of We’re The Millers and Dodgeball and Central Intelligence fame, is in talks to direct the live-action adaptation. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer will produce the project. No official writer has been picked but Thurber typically writes his own work so he will likely put the script together too.
For those who don’t know (poor souls), Spy vs. Spy was a comic strip that featured two spies who were constantly trying to wipe each other out in madcap, Itchy-and-Scratchy-style fashion. There were lots of bombs and knives and destruction. You know, kid’s stuff. The characters have made the leap to video games and TV (they were a short-running part of MadTV) but a full-on movie has never made it off the launching pad.
Thurber has a long history with Dwayne Johnson and it seems super likely that Spy vs. Spy could be a vehicle for him. It would feature the sort of action movie comedy that Johnson has been going for and would also allow him to work with Thurber again. I am not sure how I feel about that idea since it seems that Johnson is everywhere these days but his involvement would definitely put some asses in seats. If Johnson is indeed cast in the film, I wonder who would play the opposing spy. I guess Kevin Hart is the obvious choice but, man, how many movies can those two do together?