Umm … okay. I'm here to bring you what is sure to be today's WTF news of the day, as we've just learned that Michael Fassbender will be joining David Sandberg for the over-the-top action-comedy KUNG FURY. I know, I'm feeling put out by the whole thing, too. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that David Hasselhoff will also appear in this thing? Let's continue …
The film will act as a sequel to Sandberg's original short which scored major laughs when it ran during Cannes’ Directors Fortnight in 2015. Soon after word about the zany, arcade-inspired, low-rent film started to spread, the extended-short was hosted on Netflix to the tune of 40 million views worldwide. If you've yet to see the original KUNG FURY, you should stop reading this article and go watch it, right now. It's got an insane '80s-style soundtrack, a hard-boiled hero on a quest for revenge, time travel, dinosaur cops, and Adolf Hitler! Not that Hitler's a draw, really. Though you do get to see him get his ass kicked, which is always satisfying in any entertainment medium.
According to sources, the new KUNG FURY will start shooting this summer, and will be set in 1985, the best year ever. Miami is kept safe under the watchful eye of Kung Fury, the greatest damn cop of all time. His Thundercops are the ultimate police force assembled from across history to defeat the villainous Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. After the tragic death of one of their members causes the group to disband, a mysterious villain emerges from the shadows to aid in the Fuhrer’s quest to attain the ultimate weapon. Kung Fury must travel through space and time to save his friends, defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy, and defeat evil once and for all.
Hot off the success of Andy Muschietti's IT, David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith and Aaron Schmidt will produce, while Bloom will manage international sales of the project to investors at the European Film Market in Berlin this week. Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan will also board the project as producers, with Pelle Strandberg taking up an executive producing position on behalf of Sandberg's Laser Unicorns.
Now that all of that fuff is out of the way, what's with Fassbender being attached to this thing? Hasselhoff I can understand, but Fassie? I wonder if perhaps Fassbender caught the original short, one drunken evening, and went, "Yes! How do I get involved in the Laser Unicorn business, and how many times do I get to punch Hitler in the face?"
While I'm sure the story of how Fassbender became involved is bound to surface, I can't help but wonder if this is too ambitious of a project for a property like KUNG FURY. The original was so ridiculous, and used the film's B-movie presentation to achieve something truly special in the realm of laughable kung fu cinema. Hopefully, none of Sandberg's tongue-in-cheek charm will be frowned upon for the sequel, and fans can look forward to seeing KUNG FURY on a grand scale like never before.
Let us know if you've seen the original KUNG FURY, and what you think of Fassbender coming aboard in the comments section below.