Key and Peele’s ‘Police Academy’ reboot was canceled due to a tragic real-life incident, writer says
Comedian Ike Barinholtz, known for his work on 'The Studio' and 'The Mindy Project,' recently made a surprising revelation on his 'Funny You Ask with Ike Barinholtz' podcast. On Wednesday, he told the episode's guest star, Joel McHale, about his involvement in the stalled reboot of the 1984 comedy film 'Police Academy.' The 49-year-old star recalled that he and his writing partner, David Stassen, were hired to write the script for a New Line Cinema reboot in the 2010s. He also shared that he and Stassen were hired by New Line Cinema to write an R-rated, modern comedy, with the creator of the original film attached to the deal and offering notes along the way that would bring back the original cast alongside the comedic duo, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key.
Barinholtz recalled a particular awkward pitch in which he and his partner pitched a scene with the original cast, unaware that the cast members were already dead. He recalled, "When we’re doing the pitch, my partner was like, ‘So we have this scene, and that’s when we see all the original cast. We see Hightower, we see Tackleberry, we have…’ — he’s just naming all dead people. And I was like…he didn’t even do research to find out who’s still alive in the cast."
He added that the project was eventually scrapped, not because of the bad pitch, but due to a real-life tragedy. "More importantly, as we were developing the film, Mike Brown got shot, and all of a sudden, and we were making the movie for Key and Peele, and people were like, 'We’re not making a cop comedy right now where we’re having these two hilarious Black actors play police officers.'' The incident he is referring to is from August 9, 2014, when a White police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old Black teenager named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown's death sparked a debate about police use of force and militarization and launched over a week of protests. The officer was investigated but was never indicted for any civil rights violations.
'Police Academy' followed a ragtag group of misfits who joined the police academy after the city's mayor lowered the standards for recruitment to help deal with the growing crime rate. The group struggles to fit in with other police officers and is forced to prove their credibility when an all-out riot breaks out in the city. It starred an ensemble cast including Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, and Bubba Smith, among others. The movie was released on March 23, 1984, and became a massive hit. The film's success was followed by six more films and two television shows. Reboot attempts have started and stalled since 2003.
