Gavin O’Connor To Direct Action-Thriller ‘Fast’ From ‘Sicario’ Writer Taylor Sheridan
Gavin O’Connor, director ofThe Accountantand one-time director ofSuicide Squad 2, is in talks to helm the action-thrillerFast. At one point,SiciarioandHell or High WaterwriterTaylor Sheridan– who also wrote the script – was hoping to direct, but couldn’t reach a deal. The story focuses on a special forces commando tasked with stopping drug dealers protected by the DEA. So expect lots of scenes with Kevlar vests and loud guns.Varietybroke the news that Gavin O’Connor is ready to goFast(but notFurious) for Warner Bros. As mentioned above, Taylor Sheridan was hoping to direct his own script, but that’s not happening now. When Sheridan was still involved, Chris Pratt was considering taking on the lead role, but that may no longer be the case. In October of last year, Pratt wasannouncedas being in “negotiations”, but Variety indicates that the actor’s involvement with the project is now up in the air.Fast"follows a former special forces commando who’s recruited by the DEA to lead a black ops strike team targeting drug dealers who are protected by the CIA." Since this is a Taylor Sheridan script, you can expect lots of scenes of angry, anti-social men doing violent stuff. That’s Sheridan’s specialty, after all. If you don’t believe me, just check outSicario. OrSicario: Day of the Soldado. OrWind River. OrHell or High Water. Or his Paramount TV seriesYellowstone.
O’Connor is currently in post-production onTorrance, a sports drama that reunites him with hisThe Accountantstar Ben Affleck. AnAccountantsequel was announced as being in development in 2017, but there hasn’t been much movement on it. The firstAccountantwas entertaining, in a ridiculous, implausible way, but I don’t remember being overly impressed with O’Connor’s direction. I can’t even describe what filmmaking style he has, really. With that in mind, it’s hard to get overly excited aboutFast.
Still, the fact that a major studio is looking to greenlight an action movie from an original concept is unique. More often than not these days, studios are only interested in recognizable titles (or IP, as they call it in the biz). Warner Bros. must be confident enough in theFastscript to be willing to take a chance on it. I’m sure someone, somewhere, is also eager to turn it into a franchise, because such things are inevitable.
