MV85 LFG

I like this thing that studios are doing just as production begins on a film – sharing footage from the screen test process as the actors begin to find their characters and their performances through their wardrobes. It helps to build anticipation for the project but also they often time it just ahead of when the cast is expected to shoot exteriors, so that the first images of the actors in costume isn’t from the paparazzi.

Production is now underway on Miami Vice ’85, directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Austin Butler and Michael B Jordan as Crockett and Tubbs, a dream cast. Literally that’s what Joseph Kosinski was putting out there when the movie was in development: these are the two stars he wanted, and these are the two stars we’re getting. As for the movie we’re getting…

Sarah wrote a couple of months ago about Michael Mann’s Miami Vice in 2006, a film underrated in its time that has gone on to almost cult status. As Sarah noted, Miami Vice ’85 will not hit the same spot. Joseph Kosinski is all about the visuals – and …sorry… no one is complaining. This version of Miami Vice will be about hot boys looking hot and squinting a lot, with a lot of forearms and biceps. With that in mind, here’s Austin’s screen test shot, Crockett in motion with a tan, obviously.

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And here’s MBJ with his “I have no time for this, you don’t want to f-ck with me” face… which is basically his “f-ck me” face and, yes, a thousand times yes, this is exactly what I ordered, even if I don’t understand why he’d wear this much leather in Miami, LOL. But also, not to get all nerdy about this but Ricardo Tubbs is originally from New York. So what we’re seeing here is Tubbs with hometown energy before he transfers to Miami.

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That said, screen tests are more about mood, about finding the tone in a performance. What is taken during screen testing is often not what we see in the final product which is why so much test footage isn’t shared – the whole point is that it’s a work in progress, meant as a creative rehearsal. The point is to get the vibe… and, for me, the vibes are vibing.

As for the lack of pastels – don’t worry, the pastels are coming. Austin, Danny, Dominic Sessa, and Walton Goggins were seen on set in New Jersey, filming at a strip mall that was dressed to look like Miami. They’ll be there for a week or so before production moves to NYC and then, presumably, South Florida.

As you can see, though, the Crockett pastels are pastel-ing. This shot of Austin in the mint green short-sleeve henley is giving all the Sonny energy.

It’s the gold watch that’s doing it for me and the soft loafers that are doing it for me – specific accessories of the time. And completely absurd. How are you running after bad guys in those shoes?! These are questions I will not be wasting time on and I’m happy they’re not wasting time on it either.

Miami Vice ’85 is scheduled for release on May 19, 2028 to kick off summer blockbuster season 18 months from now. It’s blockbuster coded on multiple levels – big movie stars, big action, light on plot, but also… a throwback perhaps to the 80s when the original was conceived and what the movie theatre represented, who and what we would go see. Sometimes it was just sexy people looking sexy at their jobs.