Gore Verbinski to Direct Driverless Car Race Film
Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean) is set to direct a film Sony that is being written by Steve Conrad for Sony Pictures. The movie doesn’t have an official title, but it’s currently being called Driverless Car Race.
The concept of the film revolves around a transcontinental car race with vehicles that can drive on their own. Deadline has the details on the story:
The race originates as a beta test to vet competing software companies that would take the lead on futuristic driver-less vehicles, but it all takes an It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-like comedic turn when the trial run devolves into major road race after the competitive nature of the start-ups trumps their altruistic intentions. The subjects, normal people who are passengers in these cars, eventually try to take control of the experiment. A simple trek from Paris to Beijing, goes awry as vehicles head off the road and off the grid, getting into all kinds of trouble.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a great movie, as was its kind-of remake, Rat Race. I’d much rather see Verbinski make that Bioshock movie that will never happen, but I’m sure this one will be a decent flick. Verbinski had this to say in a statement:
“Essentially, we are going to take the funniest comedic actors of this generation and slowly unleash them as we examine the very notion of ‘passengers’ who fundamentally cannot remain passive.”
Conrad added:
“We want to invert the whole premise of a road trip where the promise has always been, ‘anything can happen’, and say, ‘what if anything can’t happen’? What does that do to the test subject? What are the breaking points?”
Sounds like fun!