It's official:Snoop will be Huggy bear

[themovie]

He's well known for representing Long Beach, but soon Snoop Dogg may be putting it down for Bay City.

If Todd Phillips gets his way, Tha Doggfather will be joining Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in next year's "Starsky and Hutch."

"We're looking at Snoop Dogg to play Huggy Bear," said Phillips, who's currently writing and plans to direct the big-screen adaptation of the '70s cop show.

Huggy Bear was a seemingly all-knowing street hustler who regularly provided information to the series' stars, coppers Dave Starsky and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson. During the show's 1975-1979 run on ABC, Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) & Hutch (David Soul) tooled around fictitious Bay City in a bright red Ford Gran Torino that became the show's trademark image. For four seasons, they busted criminals, met babes and dressed sharply, gracing many a lunch box, school binder and ringer T-shirt in the process.

Stiller is onboard as Starsky, and Phillips, who wrote and directed "Road Trip," is hoping to fill the Hutch role with Stiller's "Zoolander" co-star, Wilson.

"We have Ben and Owen kind of lined up, but no deals are made," Phillips said. "But that's hopefully what it's going to become and look like. Ben's confirmed 'cause he's a producer on it. Owen right now is script-contingent. We're working on the script [now], so I think we'll get him."

Phillips hopes to begin shooting "Starsky and Hutch" in either November or January. He's currently finishing up a comedy called "Old School," about a bunch of thirty-something men who start a fraternity. It stars Vince Vaughn, Owen's brother Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell. It also features a Snoop Dogg cameo.

"I talked to him obviously on the set of 'Old School' about [playing Huggy Bear]," Phillips said. "And he was very into the idea, though again no deals have been made."

Snoop has proven that he can pull off the slick retro look in a number of his videos, but nevertheless Phillips said he wants to bring Starsky, Hutch and Huggy Bear into the 21st century.

"[The movie] takes place in Bay City, present times," he said. "It's kind of the origin story of how these two guys got together. It predates the show, oddly enough, even though the show took place back then. We're updating the concept. It's going to be a little bit more of a straight-ahead comedy than an all-out action movie. [It will be an] action-comedy with 'comedy' in capital letters."

It's in Bay City, and Huggy Bear will be chilling, but will it have the car?

"Yes, of course, the car is in the movie," Phillips said, laughing. "It's the only reason we're making the movie!"