The 80’s and 90’s were a time of great nostalgia for many of us. There were so many powerful movies, tv shows, and characters during that time, that were so magnificent Hollywood had to revitalize them into new modern films, shows etc. Apparently, there’s one character Hollywood is showing no exception too, not even death can stop Ernest P. Worrell.
Indeed, you’ve read correctly. Hollywood will be rebooting the Ernest franchise with “Son of Ernest”, based around Ernest P. Worrell’s son which will presumably be Ernie P. Worrell as Ernest mentioned once in a fan letter in his newsletter. John Cherry, creator of the Ernest character is currently working on the film with Dan Erwen writing the script.
Ernest P. Worrell was primarily portrayed by Jim Varney beginning in 1980 and ending in 1998 just 2 years before Varney passed away. The character was created by John Cherry and Jerry Carden in order to use in advertising campaigns. The popularity of the character quickly lead into feature films, Saturday morning children shows, a newsletter, and merchandise. In 2005, Cherry and Carden brought Ernest back into advertising via cgi being voiced by John C. Hudgens, an advertising and broadcast producer from Little Rock, Arkansas, who also played an Ernest type character in some regional live action commercials.
I have located a number of videos online and a facebook page dedicated to Son of Ernest, starring Billy Crank. In a photo on Crank’s page, he responds to a comment regarding Cherry’s involvement in Son of Ernest.
“Yes denton rose found me on youtube and John called me I was like wow.”
Here’s a video of Crank in action as “Son of Ernest”
Here he is as Aunt Nelda
Now let’s do a little physical comparison…
Jim Varney
Billy Crank
I could see him as Ernest’s long lost son, but I’m not quite sure the world would accept him though. Personally, I've always felt Jim Varney could have easily been a member of my family tree, he and my father and uncles look very similar. Here ya go take a look. Below, is a picture of my father and his 3 brothers with Jim Varney as Ernest placed into the picture along side them.
About The Author:
I have a huge collection of both movies and comics... As a kid and teenager I collected Marvel but within the past few years I've mainly gotten into DC Comics particularly Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Firestorm. Other favorites of mine are Outburst and The Ray. I've recently started getting back into Star Trek which TNG was one of my favorite shows as a kid. I'm married to a beautiful woman named Elizabeth have 2 girls (Marissa 9 and Alexandria 2) and a son who's a year old named Edward. I own my own handyman and lawn care business. I can be reached outside of comicbookmovie.com @ http://www.facebook.com/LanternStorm1369