Doug Liman Is In Early Negotiations To Helm ‘CANNONBALL RUN’ Remake

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As audiences wait for Chaos Walking to be released next spring, filmmaker Doug Liman may soon be setting his sights on a new race. Deadline reports that the Edge of Tomorrow director is in early negotiations to helm a reboot of the 1981 comedy film, The Cannonball Run, which will be overseen by Warner Bros. production executives Jesse Ehrman and Paul Perez. The original film was a re-enactment of an illegal cross-country race where the various participants- featuring the likes of actors such as Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett and Roger Moore- played various sorts of dirty tricks to get the upper hand and win the race.

Skyscraper director Rawson Marshall Thurber was previously in talks last year to helm the new Cannonball Run film from a script by Night at the Museum screenwriters Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. However a deal with Thurber was never reached. Deadline also adds that Liman “will work off of Lennon and Garant’s version with a new scribe to be announced,” provided that negotiations work out and Liman officially signs on for the gig.

If everything works out, Cannonball Run will be a coming home of sorts for the filmmaker. In fact, it would be the first comedy film Liman has directed since his 2005 action-comedy hit, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Aside from The Bourne Identity, the bulk of Liman’s early films were all comedies of some sort. For the past thirteen years, Liman has focused more on helming other types of genre films, such as science-fiction, political thrillers and even a bio-pic.

What do you all think of this news? Personally I’ve never seen the original Cannonball Run, but I am intrigued at the possibility of Liman returning to his roots with a comedy film. Would you rather someone else helm the film instead of Liman? If so, who? Whatever your thoughts are, be sure to share them with us below in the comment section!

SOURCE: Deadline Hollywood