Carey Mulligan is many things, but tall and Latino aren’t among them. Among the things she is, talented and attractive and versatile come to mind. After blowing up in An Education (featuring Orphan victim/survivor Peter Sarsgaard), she’s used her newfound cachet well, bounding from smallish flicks to high profile ones as she builds her cred. Her latest choice is interesting and odd, a flick that on the surface would seem beneath her until you consider the weird hybrid of talent involved.

Ryan Gosling. Bryan Cranston. Director Nicholas Winding Refn.

Gosling is super talented but still lacking that one flick that wakes the world up to him. Cranston is unstoppable on Breaking Bad, delivering performance after performance that makes his Emmy category a joke. And Refn delivered the lovely Pusher films, the slightly overpraised Bronson, and is largely responsible for making Mads Mikkelsen a household name [well at least in MY household].

And Mulligan. That’s what you call a foundation for a flick.

And the flick is Drive, a film that has nothing to do with Mark Dacascos. It’s based on what is apparently an electric book by James Sallis, a noir with bite about a stuntman/wheelman and the caper that gets him into hot water. That’s the kind of premise that could be the centerpiece for a Jason Statham movie, a Steve McQueen movie, or a Jeff Wincott movie. Here’s hoping Refn takes his considerable chops and delivers something worthy of Mordor.

The cast is intriguing and I have high hopes for Mulligan. After all she’s named after my favorite golf shot.