'T.J. Hooker' will patrol bigscreen

Chuck Russell in talks to direct adaptation

By DAVE MCNARY

'T.J. Hooker' is headed for the bigscreen as an action comedy with David Foster, Ryan Heppe and series creator Rick Husky producing.

"T.J. Hooker" is headed for the bigscreen as an action comedy with David Foster, Ryan Heppe and series creator Rick Husky producing.

Chuck Russell ("The Scorpion King," "The Mask") is in talks to direct. The writing team of Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson will script the story, which focuses on the relationship between the title character and his father.

No actors have been cast yet for the feature.

The TV series, produced by Aaron Spelling, debuted in 1982 on ABC and ran for five seasons, the last on CBS. William Shatner starred as a no-nonsense patrol sergeant, with Adrian Zmed, Heather Locklear, Richard Herd and James Darren as co-stars.

Husky has long retained the feature rights to the project, according to Heppe.

"The series was the poster child for cop TV shows in the 1980s with great stunts, so we think there's a fun movie to be made from it," Heppe said.

Foster, Heppe and John Hyde are producing.