James Cameron, who directed box office giants such as Avatar, Titanic, and The Terminator, is executive producing a television reboot of his 1994 film, True Lies. CBS has given the project a pilot order and an official logline for the series.
The pilot was written by Burn Notice's Matt Nix and will be directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels). Cameron's original True Lies was a loose remake of the 1991 French comedy La Totale. It followed a secret government agent Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who tried to reignite his relationship with his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) after he learned that she was having an affair with a used-car salesman while balancing life as a spy.
The action-comedy grossed over $370 million worldwide on a $115 budget and earned an Academy Award nomination for visual effects. Jamie Lee Curtis received wide acclaim for her portrayal of Helen Tasker and she went on to win Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards. The pilot’s log-line is identical to the movie's story: “Shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy, an unfulfilled suburban housewife is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage.” The cast for the upcoming project has yet to be announced.
Cameron and McG have been attempting to reboot True Lies into a series for the past decade. In 2017, Arrow’s Marc Guggenheim’s had a version of the pilot that was greenlit by Fox. However, the pilot never saw the light of day as the network decided to not move forward with the project. A few years later, the series found its way to CBS, which has also made reboots of MacGyver, Magnum P.I., and SWAT. The network is also releasing a sequel to Silence of the Lambs and recently debuted an update to The Equalizer.
This isn't the only reboot that McG is working on. The filmmaker was recently hired to direct the series reboot of Turner & Hooch for Disney Plus. Meanwhile, James Cameron has spent the last decade filming four Avatar sequels simultaneously. As of right now, Avatar 2’s theatrical release is set for December 2022. Its cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Kate Winslet.
True Lies (1994) is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter