When I think of Joe Carnahan, an image of the second-coming of John Milius comes to mind. As directors, they have an almost equal number of projects for both TV and the big screen over the years, projects which are known for their machismo and for being gritty before gritty was trendy. Milius introduced Arnold Schwarzenegger to the world of Hollywood and beyond; Carnahan strapped broken bottles to Liam Neeson's knuckles for God's sake! So it's with a giddy but totally manly excitement that I report that it looks like Carnahan is directing Bad Boys 3.

We previously reported that Carnahan was in talks to write a new draft and possibly the direct the third installment of the action film franchise starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Carnahan responded to those reports over social media back in June, but stopped short of confirming them. It's to social media we turn again today in which Carnahan shared a pre-vis image from pre-production on the film, teasing his likely seat in the director's chair.


Here's a look at the behind-the-scenes image shared by Carnahan earlier today:

[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/carnojoe/status/697897882129567744[/EMBED_TWITTER]

This image suggests that at least one gun-toting, motorcycle-riding character will be featured in Bad Boys 3, but more importantly, it strongly suggests that Carnahan is the man in the driver's seat. It also means that all the buzz we've been hearing about Bad Boys 3 getting underway sooner than later might just be coming true.

Just yesterday, we heard from Smith himself about the reunion between him and Lawrence:

“I saw Martin [Lawrence] a few weeks ago,” Smith reveals. “I haven’t seen him for about two years. We just looked at each other. We hugged. In that moment, we knew we were making another Bad Boys. We’re definitely doing another one.”

Columbia Pictures currently has release dates set for Bad Boys 3 and 4 on February 17th, 2017 and July 3rd, 2019. As far as that first target date goes, it looks like Carnahan is already on the case. Shit finally just got real, for real!


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Image via Sony