As the Cannes Film Festival creeps ever closer (it starts next week – stay tuned to Empire for the usual top-drawer interviews and bottom-drawer jokes), several of the fest’s hot prospects have begun to release trailers or clips designed to drum up a little buzz. One of those making an impressive splash is the first clip from Nicolas Winding Refn’s thriller Drive, which stars Ryan Gosling.
Drive sees Gosling as a Hollywood stunt performer who earns extra cash by working as a getaway driver for thieves. He gets himself into real trouble when a heist goes badly wrong and a contract is taken out on his life.
From the looks of this, Refn has produced something sleek and cool and more in line with the ‘70s thrillers than the OTT CG high-octane of today’s world. Fast & Furious this ain't. The pulsing score, the low-key visuals and Gosling in non-speaking, steel-eye mode all bring to mind something akin to Michael Mann’s work. With an outstanding cast that also includes Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks and Oscar Isaac, Drive will motor into cinemas on September 23.
And in related Gosling news, Variety reports that Blue Valentine **director Derek Cianfrance has scored the funds he needs to get to work on crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines, which will find the actor playing another driver who turns to a life of crime – this time, a pro motorcyclist who needs the dosh to support his newborn child.
His character will end up clashing with a fresh-faced police officer, and Cianfrance has offered Bradley Cooper the cop role. It remains to be seen if he can fit it into his increasingly busy schedule, but he’d be mad to miss the chance to work with the Blue Velvet duo.