Better known for his comedic roles in NBC’s The Office and The Hangover trilogy, it looks as though Ed Helms will be shifting gears and doing a more serious film. After creative differences led to a delay in scheduling for the Warner Bros. reboot of the 1983 comedy Vacation, originally starring Chevy Chase, Helms was freed up to take on another project. He is now in talks to join the cast of the upcoming thriller Stretch starring Patrick Wilson and Chris Pine.
The movie follows a man nicknamed Stretch (Wilson), a down-on-his-luck limo driver, who agrees to chauffeur a mysterious billionaire passenger in order to pay off a debt to a bookie. The passenger (Pine), however, turns out to be a lunatic who is selling his list of criminal associates to the highest bidder, taking Stretch on a hellish ride. Helms will be playing a fellow limo driver.
On the surface, the premise is shockingly similar to 2004’s Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jaime Foxx, and it will be interesting to see how Stretch is able to differentiate itself. Don’t be surprised if the film ends up with a bit of a comic bent, but details on exactly how the story will go down are sparse at the moment.
Stretch will reunite director Joe Carnahan (The Grey) with both Wilson, who he directed in The A-Tream, and Pine, who worked with Carnahan on 2006’s Smokin’ Aces. Jason Blum, the producer of such thrillers as Insidious and this weekend’s unexpected hit The Purge starring Ethan Hawke, is also attached to the project.
The film aims to begin shooting this summer.
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