13 hours ago
3
The engines are ready to roar again.
Paramount is finally putting the pedal to the floor on a sequel to Days of Thunder, giving the keys to Jonathan Levine to sit in the driver’s seat as director of the Tom Cruise vehicle.
Cruise is on board to star in the follow-up to his 1990 racing drama and is producing with Jerry Bruckheimer, one of the producers of the original. The feature is intended to be Cruise’s next production.
Paramount’s tapping of Levine, whose deal is in the midst of negotiations, is a strong vote of confidence in Mr. Irrelevant, its upcoming sports drama that Levine helmed. That movie, which stars David Corenswet and has a prime Christmas Day wide release, has been hitting stratospheric highs during test screenings earlier this spring.
Days of Thunder was a reteaming of Cruise with his Top Gun helmer Tony Scott, and while it didn’t fly as high as the latter, it still proved to be among the more memorable Cruise outings. The actor played hotshot NASCAR racer Cole Trickle who lives life on the fast lane, while crashing cars, finding love and winning Daytona 500s.
The stellar cast included Robert Duvall and Nicole Kidman, as well as Cary Elwes and Randy Quaid.
Details for the new story are being kept under the hood but the script is written by Will Staples, who has written video games such as Call of Duty 3: Modern Warfare, and co-wrote the Michael B. Jordan action movie Without Remorse.
Few directors have as varied a resume in Hollywood as Levine, who has successfully shifted lanes from slasher horror (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) to Sundance audience winners (The Wackness) to cancer dramedy (50/50) to zombie love story (Warm Bodies). He even has Seth Rogen comedies The Night Before and Long Shot, the latter also starring Charlize Theron, on the list.
Levine most recently spent time in the prestige TV world, directing episodes of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, the drama starring Kidman and co-created by David E. Kelley.
He is repped by WME and Goodman Genow.
English (US) ·