‘Twisted Metal’ Movie Gets a Solo Brian Taylor

By  · Published on February 15th, 2012

If the name Brian Taylor doesn’t ring a bell immediately, it’s because “Brian” is usually left off, and “Neveldine” is usually in its place. The writer/director has made two Crank movies, Gamer, Jonah Hex and the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with creative partner Mark Neveldine, but according to Deadline Fernlake, he’ll be flying solo for the first time soon.

The project? A live-action movie version of the “Twisted Metal” videogame franchise that’s been around since 1995 and continues to thrive on the Playstation 3. As if they plan this stuff, Sony is announcing the project with Taylor at the helm on the same week that Ghost Rider hits theaters and the new “Twisted Metal” game hits store shelves. That’s boss-like synergy right there.

What’s great about this is Taylor’s ability to rain down ridiculousness in action form. The flick will stay close to the video game (as if it has a choice), displaying an underground event where contestants drive around trying to shoot and blow each other up. Sweet Tooth, the clown in the ice cream truck and Doll Face, the mask-wearing driver of an 18-wheeler, will both be included as characters. Who knows if they’ll survive, but the winner gets a wish granted by the mysterious event organizer called Calypso.

But none of that really matters because the story will be afterthought. Is there any chance this isn’t a massive wad of mindless action? Nope, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. The big question is whether Taylor can wrangle in Jason Statham and Nic Cage to co-star because that would be something to see. Nic Cage as Sweet Tooth? Yes, please.

The bottom line is that if Sony wants something like this made, Brian Taylor is the exact person to have in the director’s chair.

Movie stuff at VanityFair, Thrillist, IndieWire, Film School Rejects, and The Broken Projector Podcast@brokenprojector | Writing short stories at Adventitious.