New Regency is in negotiations to acquire the rights to the story of Art and Walt Arfons, half brothers and racing competitors who joined up to beat the land speed record in 1964 and they’ve tapped Jon Favreau to direct the pic, saddling him with star Ryan Reynolds as the lead. The script for the pic was written by Dan Gilroy (THE BOURNE LEGACY), which chronicles the half brothers throughout their racing careers as bitter rivals who eventually work together to beat the land speed record, all the while attempting to one up each other for the top spot.
Favreau and Reynolds have had some rocky big-budget endeavors in the past (COWBOYS AND ALIENS, GREEN LANTERN), but are two very busy guys at the moment. Favreau is prepping an adaptation of the musical JERSEY BOYS, while Reynolds is set to begin work on THE VOICES from PARANORMAL ACTIVITY writer Michael R. Perry as well as Atom Egoyan’s QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, the Tim-Burton produced BIG EYES, the HIGHLANDER reboot, and of course, the much-desired DEADPOOL. Why not throw a racing movie in there, too, eh?
Favreau can next be seen in Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and IRON MAN 3, while Reynolds next big-screen outing is R.I.P.D. with Jeff Bridges.