WWE Films produces violent remake of ’70s sitcom: ‘Lobo With a Shotgun,’ starring Jerry Lawler
WWE Films continues its stranglehold on Hollywood B-movie-type fare with the announcement today of a modern-day remake of the late ’70s sitcom “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo,” which starred the late Claude Akins as the scheming lawman of Orly County, Georgia. WWE’s “Lobo With a Shotgun” will star RAW announcer and Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler in the title role of Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo, with his base of operations moved to Daytona Beach, Fla.
WWE Divas Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres co-star as undercover bikini-clad deputies working with Lobo to break up a drug ring on the famed Florida beach led by Kharma (Kia Stephens) and The Big Show (Paul Wight).
Unlike the TV comedy, WWE’s version will be “a re-imagined, sexier, more violent take on a camp classic—fun for the whole family,” promised Stephanie McMahon, executive vice president, creative.
OK, not really, but you have to admit that concept sounds better than “The Marine 3.”
The above pic of the King is actually a publicity photo for the upcoming “Girls Gone Dead,” a horror film in which Lawler co-stars as Sheriff Jackson Cole.
The film, which also features porn legend Ron Jeremy playing himself, is about a group of six ex-high school cheerleaders who are stalked by a killer with a medieval war hammer and battle axe during their first spring break from college.
Sounds like a tongue-in-cheek ’80s horror throwback concept. (Based on a true story.)
In addition to his recent cameo in the Dick Tracy comic strip, this has to be another item to scratch off Lawler’s bucket list, as he’s a big fan of the horror-movie genre-not only the classic Universal movie monsters but also slasher films like the “Friday the 13th” series and “Halloween-he even contributed to Fangoria magazine in the early ’80s.
(All one has to do is look at the Ghosts of Memphis Wrestling’s Past to see Lawler’s affinity for outrageous pop-culture characters.)
Lawler later formed a friendship with Tom Savini, the makeup-effects master behind such splatter films as “Friday the 13th” “The Burning” (which starred a young Jason Alexander as one of the victims) and “Maniac.” Savini, a huge wrestling fan, eventually appeared as a heel on “Jerry Lawler’s Memphis Wrestling” a few years ago, sending in various movie monsters to gain revenge for the late Andy Kaufman, his “old Hollywood friend.”
In the clip below, Lawler explains how he wound up in the film…and explains his weapon of choice if he were a horror slasher.
KFR Reader Comments