John Leguizamo IS The American Del Boy – Yes, Really

 

We recently reported that a pilot for the American remake of ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES… has been green lit. Well now, we can confirm that John Leguizamo has been cast as the iconic Del Boy Trotter.

You may remember him from such movies as MOULIN ROUGE (2001), ROMEO + JULIET (1996) and SUPER MARIO BROS  (1993) and, most recently, as the voice of Sid in the ICE AGE movies.

As mentioned in our previous article, it’s the latest in batch of UK shows to be remade out in the US (SKINS, SHAMELESS, THE OFFICE) but, unlike them, this seems to be a vehicle for a particular star. Leguizamo signed with ABC studios around two weeks ago and has already landed this choice role. However, should the pilot not be picked up for a series, he is lined up for a one camera show based on his real life experiences in New York.

The original Del Boy, David Jason, is a little wary:

“It might work but you’ve got to change it so much that, in the change, in order to Americanise it, do you lose the whole concept of the piece? The language will have to change so much and there will be so many parts of the storyline you have to change.”

So, what would an Americanised Only Fools… be called? When Bill Cosby starred in a US remake of ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE it was titled, brace yourselves, COSBY. So don’t be surprised if they cut their losses and call it THE JOHN LEGUIZAMO SHOW.

Plonkers.