Plenty of deals are being struck at Cannes. Just this morning, for instance,Nicolas Winding Refnannounced that he will be co-producing a remake ofWitchfinder General, the infamousVincent Pricevehicle about the sadism and madness of religious extremism, in its many forms. Beyond that, the sheer amount of casting news thats been coming out of the European festival has been head-spinning in its volume.
One story that stuck today, however, involvesFrank Grillo, the talented character actor who injected some much needed bravado intoThe Purge: Anarchyand made for a pretty awesome Crossbones inCaptain America: Civil War. Netflix has closed a deal in Cannes to distributeWheelman, an action-thriller with Grillo in the titular role, with a start-of-shooting date set for Fall 2016. The film will be written and directed byJeremy Rush, and is being produced byJoe Carnahan, who you might know best as the writer-director behindThe Grey,Smokin' Aces, andNarc.
You can check out the familiar synopsis below, which sounds an awfully lot like movies as good asThe DriverandDriveor movies as bad as theEthan Hawke-frontedGetaway. But considering how reliable Grillo tends to be in these kind of roles, I’m willing to bet this one will be closer to the former films than the latter disaster.
Here’s the official synopsis forWheelman:
The wheelman is Grillo - a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race-to-survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him, and the only person he can trust… his fourteen-year-old daughter. All reasons to think fast, and drive faster.
