Exclusive: Nighthawks: Sylvester Stallone classic to become a limited series with Frank Grillo!

One of my favorite ever Sylvester Stallone movies is Nighthawks. One of his least-seen action flicks, the 1981 thriller starred Stallone as an NYC cop named Deke DaSilva, who’s put on the trail of an international terrorist named Wulfgar, and played by the late, great Rutger Hauer. It was a much-watched instalment of our Best Movie You Never Saw series and just so happens to be the next movie we’re writing up for our ongoing Sylvester Stallone Revisited show. Well, it turns out we’re getting a Nighthawks TV remake, with none other than Frank Grillo starring as the cop hero DaSilva!

This came directly from Grillo himself, who’s making the rounds promoting his upcoming flick Copshop, which once again pairs him with Joe Carnahan in addition to Gerard Butler. Grillo came on a podcast I co-host with former JoBlo editor Paul Shirey called The Beard and the Bald, and the conversation turned to upcoming projects and Grillo dropped the scoop, mentioning how excited he was to be working with Sly.

“We’re redoing Nighthawks as a limited TV series – eight episodes. I’m playing him. He’s directing, he’s gonna direct ‘em, and then he’s gonna be in it…It’s happening as we speak, we’re selling it right now.” 

Grillo set to star as DaSilva, the role created by Sly in the original. He also noted the real fun part is finding someone to replace the late Rutger Hauer as Wulgar the terrorist. On his career as a whole, Grillo sounded thrilled that he’s gotten to the point where he can work with one of his idols – Stallone.

“I’m like you, I love Rocky, I just love Stallone and I’m at this point where I’m sitting across from him and he’s telling me I’m the only guy to play the role…This is AMAZING!”

As a massive fan of Grillo, I can’t wait. The guy is supremely talented, and any opportunity to get more of him in a leading role is good with me. Stallone and Grillo seem like a match made in action hero heaven, so hopefully, an awesome network or streaming service picks up the Nighthawks TV remake – but really – how could they not?