Some of us just started reading the script to Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” penned by Hossein Amini (“Killshot,” “The Four Feathers,” and the upcoming Jack Ryan reboot “Moscow”), but we will tell you, never in a million years did we see this coming.
Comedian Albert Brooks has been cast as the villain in Refn’s neo-noir thriller about a bored and unfulfilled stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who, for additional thrills, doubles as a getaway driver by night. Carey Mulligan has already been cast as the love interest (Latino in the script, but that’s obviously been changed) and we assume that Bryan Cranston’s part is Gosling’s mentor in the picture (those seem to be the principal roles).
But Brooks as the villain? That insane and genius-stroke is by Refn, known for directing “The Pusher” trilogy and more recently “Bronson” (the film that is quickly making Tom Hardy a household name) and “Vahalla Rising.”
Deadline reports that Brooks will play “Bernie Rose, a transplanted New York mobster who comes to L.A. and is not to be messed with.” Brooks played wussy bad in Steven Soderbergh’s “Out Of Sight,” but that’s been…what? Twelve years now and it wasn’t exactly the film’s most memorable role (that distinction is still held by Jennifer Lopez; what happened JLo?).
Either way, it’s a nice casting twist and one that we should expect from Refn (this will be his first Hollywood venture, but he’s dabbled a lot with Harrison Ford and Keanu Reeves-lead projects that fell through). “Drive” and its L.A.-scheduled shoot should start sometime in mid September (Sept 20 was the last date of intel).
I haven't read the novel in a while, so I may just me remembering things wrong.
But isn't the character Mulligan is playing a Latina in the book?
As much as I love Mulligan, I'm disappointed they couldn't find a Latina actress to star opposite Gosling.
Brooks…wasn't really bad at all in Out of Sight.
Thanks Eve for saying that. I'm not a huge Mulligan fan but I know she's a good actress.
I'm actually kind of pissed about this since I enjoyed the book and enjoy Refn as a director but as a Black Latina my interest in the film has been lowered…
But there won't be much talk about this casting choice.
Why didn't they cast a Latina anyway?
@Miss Jade: They'll say that the producers wanted to go with a name, but I don't agree that Mulligan is a household name. "An Education" despite its reviews, did not make that much money.
America Ferrera, Paz Vega, Melonie Diaz…there are many known Latina actresses they could've went for. Disappointing
I thought Brooks was fantastic in Out of Sight. This is great casting. He is one of my favorite actors.
ehhh ehhh hisssss i WANT THE SCRIPT!
@Eve & @MissJade:
All of the casting calls I've seen for the film were specifically looking for a young Latina to play the part. So the role going the Carey is very surprising to me. Perhaps she campaigned really hard for the role?
Doesn't work that way. Mulligan probably became interested, wanted to work with Refn and Gosling, boom, character becomes Caucasian because Mulligan is great and everyone wants to work with her, no one wants to miss that chance this early in the game while she is hot (and still relatively inexpensive).
Has nothing to do with ethnicity at the end of the day.
@The Playlist: It does have to do with ethnicity as there are next to nothing roles for Latina actresses nowadays. The names I mentioned would probably be paid relatively similar to Mulligan and be slightly more recognizable.
When I see more diversity in Hollywood, then I'll leave ethnicity/race out of talks. For all its talk of being progressive, this industry is as narrow minded as our society.
Weirdly enough IMDB has the movie listed as coming out 2012 which I'm guessing is a typo correct?
@The Playlist: I'm going to have to agree with Eve on this. When Hollywood actually takes a stand and films come out with more diverse casts I'll stop bitching. Casts are so white-washed and people are far too okay with letting it stay that way.
Mulligan is a good actress, but I don't think that makes it okay from any angle to cast her in a role that was meant for a Latina.
Sigh. People this is about getting an Oscar nominated actress into your film while she is still relatively inexpensive and buzzed. Does it suck that there aren't more minority driven roles/films? Sure. If this an example of Hollywood whitewashing a cast? Not really.
But let's not kid ourselves that American Ferrara or Paz Vega would bring the same cachet to the film as Carey Mulligan.
@Kevin "Whitewashing" implies something malicious which I don't believe the producers were going for, but as it was exciting to read a part for a minority actress, it is equally disappointing to see it taken away.
I should note when I mentioned white-washing and how not diverse casts are in Hollywood I was talking about all of Hollywood. Saying that about the Drive picture would be extreme because like Eve said I don't think the people behind Drive had any ill intent, I'm just disappointed.