Tom Holland and Austin Butler are to star in American Speed – Amazon MGM’s film about cars, corruption and criminality.
Both Tom Holland and Austin Butler are riding a wave of popularity at the moment. It was announced in September that the stars would be combining for American Speed, a film about car racing, drug smuggling and brotherly love. Dan Wiedenhaupt is writing the script, which is based on the true story of the Whittington brothers – a trio of successful racing car drivers who were arrested for drug trafficking and tax evasion in the 1980s.
As far as we know, no director is yet in place, nor do we know who will be playing the third brother. However, what we have learned thanls to Deadline is that Amazon MGM have picked up the film, reportedly after Warner Bros and Paramount both passed on the project. Hopefully, that means we can look forward to a theatrical release for the film and given their combined star power, we’d like to think that the actors have this agreement set into their contracts from the very outset.
That’s all we know right now, but we’re eagerly waiting to see who will get the nod to helm the film, with it sounding like somebody is needed who can handle high-octane racing scenes just as well as more intimate dramatic moments and maybe a few daring brushes with the law too.
Tom Holland is on good form at present: not only was the next instalment of the Spider-Man series given a July 2026 release date, but he’s also reportedly joined Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated next project.
Then there’s Austin Butler: acclaimed turns in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, not to mention Jeff Nichol’s The Bikeriders have all made him one of the most admired young actors in Hollywood. Coming up, he has a project with Darren Aranofsky (Caught Stealing) and has surely locked down the part of Chris (originally played by Val Kilmer) in Michael Mann’s upcoming Heat sequel/prequel, even if that one isn’t official yet.
When we hear more on American Speed, we’ll let you know.
