It isn’t as though movies with “fast” and “furious” in the title aren't already ubiquitous and monopolizing vehicle-centric cinema, but the overwhelming success of Fast & Furious 6 means Dom and Brian might surpass Jason Voorhies as shared Kings of the Sequels, thus further lessening the releases of outside films with fast cars at their center, (even if the franchise has moved beyond that limiting description). But if you think that means Legendary Entertainment’s Hot Wheels movie is shifting into reverse and backing out of the garage for good, you’d be in-car-rect.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is on the hunt for its director, and Legendary has two potential candidates lined up in their headlights. This comes just two days after announcing their upcoming partnership with NBCUniversal once their partnership with Warner Bros comes to an end. I wonder if somebody (or several somebodies) at Warner was implicit in keeping this project from getting any traction.
The first director in line for the job is Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, best known for having directed the better-than-expected action-heavy 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle’s zombie masterpiece 28 Days Later. His last film was the ho-hum Spanish horror Intruders, a low point in Clive Owen’s career. His next project, assuming he doesn’t drop out of it as he did with both The Crow remake and Highlander’s reboot, will be the thriller Villains, which is set to star Shia LaBeouf.
Simon Crane is the second director in the running, and this would be his directorial debut if he gets the job. Make no mistake, however, he’s been in the film industry for almost 30 years, having worked as a stuntman and stunt coordinator in some of the biggest blockbusters imaginable. He has become one of the most highly sought-out second unit directors of the last decade. He was last a part of the hellacious production process involved with Marc Forster’s World War Z, but he survived and has since worked on both Doug Liman’s All You Need is Kill and Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent, both of which will be out next summer.
The screenplay was written by Iron Man and Punisher: War Zone co-writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, and the screenplay has been described as “more Mission: Impossible than Fast & Furious,” which sounds to me like the cars aren’t the central focus, which makes this project all the more ridiculous. Incidentally, this duo also co-wrote the upcoming Highlander, so it’s their second potential team up with Fresnadillo.
A decision on the director will be made in the coming weeks, once presentations have been made. I’m not really certain what a “Hot Wheels director” is really supposed to inspire mentally, but I’m guessing that they might go with Crane’s extended Hollywood experience over Fresnadillo’s thriller-heavy résumé. It’s what I would do, right before I shelved this project and went to work on a movie based on silly straws.
The only thing I ask of this film is that they get fast talking John Moschitta Jr. involved, whose voice you can hear as you get nostalgic with the below commercial.
