WithGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3andCowboy Ninja Vikingdelayed indefinitely,Chris Pratthas found himself with an open slot in his schedule andTaylor Sheridanappears to be the beneficiary, as Pratt is in talks to star in the next action thriller from the writer-director ofWind River.
Sheridan wrote the script, which follows an ex-special forces commando (Pratt) who is recruited by the DEA to lead a black ops strike team targeting drug dealers who are being protected by the CIA.David Heymanis producing the Warner Bros. film, which has the working title ofFast. Sheridan has been meeting with top actors since the summer, and needed to land an A-lister to secure a greenlight from WB given the film’s budget, which is reportedly in the $75 million range.
According toVariety, which broke the news, the project is being developed as a potential franchise – and why wouldn’t it be? After all, the two franchises that Pratt has signed on to,Guardians of the GalaxyandJurassic World, have done blockbuster business at the box office. It only makes sense that Warner Bros. would want its own potential Pratt franchise.
Personally, I think this is a smart move for Pratt, who needs to do something a bit grittier than the four-quadrant fare audiences have grown accustomed to seeing him in – and sorry, but theDenzel Washington-led remake ofThe Magnificent Sevenisn’t what I’m talking about. Pratt needs to get his hands dirty, and I think Sheridan is the perfect filmmaker to bring out that darker side of him. I know he’s playing the hero again here, but from the description of the logline, I’m guessing it’s a very different kind of hero than Peter Quill and Owen Grady.
Pratt is coming off the box office behemothsAvengers: Infinity WarandJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide between them. He’s represented by UTA and Rise Management.
Sheridan is the acclaimed writer behind theSicariofranchise andDavid Mackenzie’s heist movieHell or High Water, which earned the scribe his first Oscar nomination. He also created the hitKevin Costner-led Western seriesYellowstonefor Paramount Network and adapted the thriller novelDark Invasionas a potential starring vehicle for producerBradley Cooper. He’s repped by CAA and Elevate Entertainment.
