Marshall takes Drive

His DOOMSDAY may not have connected with audiences during its opening weekend, but that isn’t slowing Neil Marshall down. Quite the opposite, in fact — he’s stomping on the accelerator.

Marshall is set to direct DRIVE, Universal’s adaptation of the James Sallis novel. The modern noir tale is set in the seamy underside of Southern California, and follows a Hollywood stuntman simply known as Driver who fills his downtime as a robbery wheelman, until a job goes awry and he ends up with a price on his head.

Hugh Jackman has been attached to star in the planned chase flick for a couple years now, and will also produce. Once he sheathes his adamantium claws after slicing up some Schreiber on WOLVERINE, the goal is to shoot him shifting gears Steve McQueen-style this summer.

Of the script from FOUR FEATHERS writer Hossein Amini, Marshall says: “This is something I haven’t done before, and I’ve wanted to bring a British sensibility to an L.A. shoot and a scorched classic film noir concept. Hoss is a fantastic writer, and he’s written three amazing car chases in the film. He’s turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop. I would like to be shooting it this summer.“

Just last week, Marshall made a deal with Rogue Pictures to write and direct a horror-western called SACRILEGE, so they’re obviously still willing to roll the dice on his genre creations despite unreliable box office returns.