It probably doesn’t need to be said, but Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Hollywood debut, “Drive,” is easily one of our most anticipated films of 2011. Boasting an incredibly strong cast featuring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks and Oscar Issac, it’s no wonder that it was a hot property with a number of indie studios vying for the rights of the relatively low, $30 million budgeted film.
Deadline reports that FilmDistrict, the new upstart distributors started by GK Films partners Graham King and Tim Headington and run by Peter Schlessel and former Apparition exec Bob Berney, has landed the film and pegged it for a late summer or fall 2011 release. The film is currently shooting and will wrap in about two weeks.
“Drive” centers on a nameless Hollywood stuntman (Gosling) who moonlights as a freelance getaway driver during robberies. When a bank heist goes wrong, he ends up on the run with a contract on his head and an ex-con’s girlfriend in his car. The film was written by Hossein Amini (“Shanghai,” the upcoming Jack Ryan franchise reboot, “Moscow“) and we can’t wait to see what Refn’s visual eye does with the material.