Carnahan, Scotts have an 'A Team' plan (VAR, THR, IESB)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Director Joe Carnahan will get behind the wheel of a planned summer 2010 big screen version of 1980s TV series "The A-Team." Ridley Scott will produce with Tony Scott executive producing say today's reports.

Carnahan will team with Brian Bloom to polish a script by Skip Woods with an eye on a June production start.

John Singleton recently dropped out as director as Fox has struggled to find a way to exploit the branded TV show while avoiding the series' campy tone, notes Variety.

Carnahan and the Scott brothers say they will use the original premise of the series as the template - in the original, four Vietnam vets convicted of armed robbery escape from military prison and became do-gooder mercenaries.

While the Middle East will stand in for Vietnam, Carnahan said the origin story is the jumping-off point.

The TV series was a pop cultural phenomenon and helped make Mr. T. a household name.

With the "A-Team" gearing up, Carnahan has put his Pablo Escobar film "Killing Pablo" on the back burner. "I am determined to make that movie there or elsewhere, but it's an interesting time in Hollywood, and you have to be aware when you get the opportunity to step into a business model that is working," Carnahan said.

Also producing "A-Team" are Jules Daly and Stephen J. Cannell; the latter created the original TV series.