Once he sheathes his adamantium claws, Hugh Jackman can still use his leather X-gloves to grip the shifter for an upcoming project called Drive.
Based on author James Sallis’ modern noir tale (which coincidentally is in my stack of about a hundred books I’ve bought and haven’t had time to read), the story 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. At a speedy 150 pages, Sallis’ book is almost custom-made for movie treatment.
Jackman’s biz partner John Palermo calls it “a great Steve McQueen-type role for Hugh”, and I assume he’s referencing Bullitt and not The Blob. The Universal movie joins a number of other old-fashioned car-chase projects in the works, including a Vanishing Point remake and Vin Diesel’s The Wheelman. Now if we could just get the extended director’s cut of Walter Hill’s brilliant The Driver on DVD. Or at least some more BMW short films with Clive Owen still steering.