Wilmer Valderrama to Play Ponch

[browneyedgirly]

Wilmer Valderrama is about to become a CHiP off of Erik Estrada's block.

The actor, who plays Fez on That '70s Show, will assume the role as motorcycle cop Ponch – made famous on TV in the late '70s by Estrada – in a big-screen version of the cult favorite CHiPs, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The show tracked the adventures of two macho California Highway Patrol motorcycle cops, Francis "Ponch" Poncherello and Jon Baker, who was played by Larry Wilcox. (No word yet on who will step in as Valderrama's partner.)

Can a mod fix the title please? His name is wrong
The movie, which so far has no producer or director, says the trade paper, will come from Warner Bros., which also brought such '70s and '80s TV fare as Starsky & Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard to movie theaters. The script will be by George Lopez vets Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove.

Valderrama, 25, meanwhile, is wrapping up the final season of That '70s Show and will appear in the Sundance Film Festival entry The Darwin Awards in January.

People Magazine

[SVZ]

oh fez