Jim Belushi has been cast in Fox’s “Urban Cowboy” pilot, the television adaptation of John Travolta’s 1980s feature film, Variety has learned. Belushi will co-star as Marshall, a series regular role, should the project go to series. The character is described as a spirited long haul truck driver-turned-honky tonk bar owner. In town, Marshall is as much of a Houston institution as is his bar, named Gilley’s. Belushi joins Alfonso Herrera, who landed the male lead in the pilot, playing a version of the character made famous by Travolta in the original film.
Herrera’s character, Kyle, is described as a popular rodeo circuit rider who is a puppet for the drug cartel and is forced to leave flee Mexico after messing with the wrong people. A relative newcomer in Hollywood, the popular Mexican actor and singer stars in Netflix’s “Sense8.”
The modernized “Urban Cowboy” will heavily feature music, this time, with a Latin twist. The project is about family legacies, starting over, finding true love and the American dream.
The series from 20th Century Fox and Paramount will follow star-crossed young lovers Kyle (Herrera) and Gaby (yet to be cast), as they pursue their dreams amidst the sweat of line dancing in honky tonks, the grime of oil refineries and the glamour of modern Texas.
