Have filmmakers and studio execs found this season of Formula 1 so interesting that they all want to get their own racing car thrillers into the film production race? It all started with
Michael Mann (Public Enemies, Heat) attaching himself to an old school F1 racing picture titled
Go Like Hell at 20th Century Fox that would focus on the battle 'between Ford and Ferrari in 1966, when an American car won the Le Mans for the first time' with
Brad Pitt in demand for the lead role. Then came word of
Paul Greengrass (Bourne sequels, Green Zone) circling the
Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) scripted F1 epic
Rush about Formula 1 racing champion
Niki Lauda - and the rivalry between he and Englishman racer James Hunt. That project has just gone out to studios and could be a go-film for Greengrass (or another director) this year. Coincidentally,
last November Brit actor
Alex Pettyfer was hired to star and produce a biopic of Hunt at Dreamworks but that one might have stalled since. Now comes word from
Variety that Paramount are wanting to get in on the act, securing a deal with
Jeremy Renner who will star and produce
Slingshot, 'an underdog story set in the high-octane world of rally racing'. Slingshot would tell the true story of financial backer
Bill Caswell who left his well paid job in 2009 to focus on rally car building and racing. After paying $500 for a 1991 BMW 318i off Craigslist he competed in the World Rally Championships in Mexico against professional race car teams. Yup... it's yet another Days of Thunder for the new generation but I won't spoil the film telling you how well he did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2kmlbt76ZE Renner would produce at his recently setup shingle The Combine alongside his partner
Don Handfield, who will also write the screenplay. The movie is now competing with the
Steve McQueen biopic which Renner & Handfield recently tasked
James Gray (We Own The Night, Two Lovers) to write for the actor which presumably would also cover some of McQueen's celebrated racing career as The Combine's first output. Will Mann's 'Go Like Hell', Greengrass/Morgan's 'Rush', Pettyfer's James Hunt biopic and Renner's 'Slingshot' actually happen? Well everyone seems interested in making them but none of the talents above have really come out and said firmly "YES
, this will be my next picture". None of these projects are ready to kick into high gear and with Renner having his hand in a million pies already; he shoots
The Bourne Legacy later this year, will support James Gray's miserable sounding drama
Lowlife and then there's any number of a dozen projects he has attached himself too these past 12 months that could go next, including the McQueen biopic this Slingshot is directly competing against. Then there's the small matter of
Mission: Impossible 4,
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and
The Avengers - three tentpoles he has been working on and still could be working on right now.
P.S. - The excellent Steve McQueen racing thriller Le Mans hits Blu-ray in the U.K. today. Make sure you pick it up and then you might understand why interest in this kind of genre is so high amongst these artists.