Tom Cruise’s “Days of Thunder” sequel is taking shape. According to Variety, Jonathan Levine, director of hit comedies “Long Shot” and “The Night Before”, is in talks to helm the Paramount project.
It was reported in 2024 that Cruise was set to reprise his role as Cole Trickle in the NASCAR-based film after his long-awaited sequel to Top Gun raked in $1.5 billion worldwide.
Back in March, Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern reported that a Hollywood writer was making the rounds across NASCAR garages to gather ideas.
According to Variety, Cruise is personally bankrolling the project alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the 1990 original and last year’s blockbuster hit, “F1.”
Levine is no stranger to Paramount, as his sports biopic, “Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story”, is set for release this Christmas. The film stars Superman actor David Corenswet in the lead.
“Days of Thunder” followed Cole Trickle’s rise in NASCAR and ended with him winning the Daytona 500. Robert Duvall played his team owner, while NASCAR legend Richard Petty made an appearance as himself.
Tom Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set and went on to marry the actress. The couple parted ways after 11 years together.
Jeff Gordon reveals discussions with Tom Cruise on NASCAR film
After William Byron’s Daytona 500 win last year, Jeff Gordon met with the media and reflected on a potential “Days of Thunder” sequel. Gordon endorsed the project, revealing personal discussions with Tom Cruise.
“There’s this kind of resurgence, which is awesome, and there’s also a whole new landscape of opportunities with streaming services and docuseries and also the big screen, which I think it would be amazing to do,” Gordon said via NASCAR’s official website, “I am seeing just a lot more momentum in projects like this coming through NASCAR and coming to Hendrick Motorsports and just more interest. So that’s good, right? It talks a lot about where the sport is at, where it’s heading, the amazing crowd that was [at Daytona], not just today, new TV partners.
“I’ve absolutely talked to Tom about it because I want him to do the project, and we want to be a part of it if it were to happen,” he added.
