Remember back when movies were really fun? I'm not talking about now when budgets are so big every film is a "make or break" enterprise. I'm talking about when you could gather together a slew of Hollywood's biggest stars, throw 'em in some frivolous nonsense about a cross country race for cash and it would be an instant hit. Ocean's Eleven is probably the last time we had a movie so silly and star-studded, but Warner Brothers may be about to change that.
Earlier this year rumors began about the possibility of a Cannonball Run remake, but there was little substance to it except that Guy Ritchie may direct it. Now it looks like the wheels are actually turning, as Ritchie has now officially entered talks to be behind the camera. His plan is to take the race to Europe, and possibly have his Snatch leading man, Brad Pitt, starring. If talks with Ritchie don't fly, Shawn Levy is said to be the back-up choice, and he wants Ben Stiller to star. Ugh. Ritchie's version sounds much better to me already. Levy's would unfortunately look a lot like Rat Race.
The interesting thing is that General Motors wants to have a major stake in the film, going so far as to invest heavily in it's production. The hope is that it would essentially be one long commercial for their vehicles, and with the likelihood of this having a ton of celebrity cameos it's not that bad of an idea.
The original Cannonball Run starred Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Roger Moore, Jackie Chan, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and a bunch of other notable faces. My favorite character(and they're all pretty damn funny) was Moore's, who played a guy who thought he was the Roger Moore James Bond. How awesome would it be to get Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan for a similar role? [Vulture]
