While
Jan de Bont might not be having the best
luck with his other projects, it looks like
his next far-fetched action title,
Stopping Power, is moving along
nicely. The Hollywood Reporter
has
announced that
Jason Isaacs (aka
Lucius Malfoy) and
Melissa George (30
Days of Night) have joined
John Cusack in the action thriller. Cusack
stars as a single father whose family RV is hijacked by a criminal on the run
while vacationing in Germany. To save his daughter, he is forced to act as a
'decoy driver' for the escaped con, becoming embroiled in a high-stakes police
chase. George is set to play Cusack's girlfriend, and Isaacs will play the
criminal. That's not much of a surprise; Isaacs' resume is littered with
"bad-guy" roles. Plus, if anyone can handle over-the-top villainy, it would
be Isaacs; if you don't believe me, take another look at his performance in
The Patriot.Back in May, Scott Weinberg told us that de Bont was promising Stopping Power would include a 51-minute chase scene. Remember de Bont before the lifeless Tomb Raider films and the lame remake of The Haunting; this was the same director who brought us Speed. So the man does know his way around "vehicular action." The original draft of the script was written by The Hitcher scribe, Eric Red, but has reportedly undergone some rewrites from Richard Shepard (The Matador) and Skip Woods (Swordfish). With casting now in place, the production is ready to start shooting in Berlin this September. Stopping Power is scheduled to hit theaters in 2008.
