Tom Selleck said on Tuesday that author Tom Clancy--who died Tuesday night--wanted to do a movie about “Magnum, P.I.”
Selleck, who appeared in a “Magnum, P.I.” show in the 1980s, gave an interview to Yahoo on Tuesday, the same day that Clancy died.
“Tom Clancy is a huge ‘Magnum’ fan. In the early ‘90s, he’d done a couple of wildly successful movie adaptations of his books. We got together, and I went to Universal, and I said ‘It’s time we could do a series of feature films,’” he told Yahoo.
It was reported Wednesday morning by the New York Times and other media that Clancy died in Baltimore at age 66.
Selleck added that Universal was “very interested, and I had Tom, who wanted to do the story, and I had this package put together, but Universal’s the only studio that could make it, and they went through three ownership changes in the ‘90s, and I think that was the real window for ‘Magnum.’”
“If they did a ‘Magnum' movie, I think it’s been pretty clear — because I’ve heard rumors there were scripts and all — I don’t think they see me doing it,” he said.
Selleck continued in saying that Hollywood remakes of TV shows are costly.
“Well, that’s up to them, but I do know that Hollywood and feature films has a tendency to buy a TV title, spend $150 million on it, and put big explosions in it and make fun of it, and that will not work with ‘Magnum,’” he said, adding that the show has a “huge following” still.
