Anne Hathaway will star opposite Tom Cruise in the next chapter of “Days of Thunder,” Variety has learned exclusively.
Cruise will reprise his role as the scrappy driver Cole Trickle. Plot details are scarce, but Hathaway is set to play a racecar team owner and engineer. Jonathan Levine (“Long Shot,” “Mr. Irrelevant”) is confirmed to direct. Cruise is producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.
In the original, Cruise’s Trickle gets recruited to a new NASCAR team by a retired racing legend (Robert Duvall). The first film also starred Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid and John C. Reilly.
The ”Days of Thunder” follow-up is the first significant piece of IP that Cruise will engage with after ramping down the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. He’s also on the hook for another “Top Gun” movie, and will return to the prestige drama space with this year’s Alejandro González Iñárritu film “Digger.”
