There’s little doubt that ever since the credit crunch, Hollywood has been looking at all sorts of different ways of funding movies. While product placement has been popular for a long time, it seems they’re going to try and take things a little further with a remake of The Cannonball Run, by attempting to get General Motors to actually put up an extensive financial stake in the film.
Vulture reports that to make the whole thing more attractive to GM, Warner Bros is currently considering Guy Ritchie or Shawn Levy to direct the remake. It is said that Guy Ritchie wants Brad Pitt to star, while Shawn Levy is eyeing the project for Ben Stiller to take the wheel. Ritchie apparently has the inside track on Shawn Levy at the moment, since both Ritchie and Pitt are repped by Creative Artists Agency, GM’s corporate agency, which should make it easier to pull things together.
If the Warner Bros./GM deal goes through, The Cannonball Run remake could showcase the car company’s new line, in much bigger ways than a normal product placement deal would allow for. It’s an interesting idea, but hopefully GM don’t mind their motors being destroyed, which was half the fun of the original Cannonball Run.
The 1981 movie starred Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, and focused on a cross-country road race with outlaw drivers doing anything it takes to win.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
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