A month on from the news that he'd been offered the gig, Scott Waugh has now officially signed on for **Need For Speed, the movie adaptation of EA's racing videogame franchise. The studio is Dreamworks, and chairman Steven Spielberg says, "We're excited to bring to life an exhilarating script based on an epic game that seems made for the movies."
One of the most successful game franchises of all time, Need For Speed has shifted in excess of a hundred million units between the eighteen titles that make up its lifetime, from 1994's original to last year's The Run. Not being especially plot-based, the games won't lend themselves to a particular story being adapted, but Dreamworks say the film will be faithful to the franchise's spirit, while channeling "the tradition of the great car culture films of the 1970s." Captain Chaos is ironing his cape as we speak.
Brothers George and John Gatins have been developing the screenplay. Intriguingly, it's John who has the previous (credited) writing experience with Real Steel and Robert Zemecki's upcoming Flight. Now that the story has been thrashed out however, he's stepping back for a producer credit, while George, who has only previously been credited as a producer (She's Out Of My League) revs up the script.
Ex-stuntman Waugh, meanwhile, did not skimp on the vehicular mayhem in his Act Of Valour, so we can expect plenty of car-based carnage here. Dreamworks have accelerated Need For Speed to a fast track, and production is expected to start in 2013, for a release the following year.