Neil Marshall has signed with Universal to direct action-thriller Drive, an adaptation of the James Sallis novel. Hugh Jackman is attached to play a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway car driver in heists.
Variety says Hossein Amini wrote the script, and Marc Platt is producing with Jackman and his Seed Productions partner John Palermo.
In the book, the stuntman’s already-exciting existence gets jolted when he discovers that a contract has been put out on his life.
“Hoss is a fantastic writer, and he’s written three amazing car chases in the film,” Marshall told the trade. “He’s turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop. I would like to be shooting it this summer.”
The deal marks the second recent pact for Marshall at Universal after signing to write and direct Sacrilege, a horror story set in the Old West, at Universal-based Rogue Pictures, where Marshall wrote and directed Doomsday.
