Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber Join Action Thriller ‘Motor City' From Stampede Ventures (EXCLUSIVE)
Shailene Woodley (“Ferrari,” “Big Little Lies”), Ben Foster (“Warcraft,” “The Mechanic”) and Pablo Schreiber (“Den of Thieves,” “First Man,” “SkyScraper”) will join the previously announced Alan Ritchson (“Reacher,” “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” “Fast X”) in the action thriller “Motor City.”
Potsy Ponciroli (“Old Henry,” “Greedy People”) will direct the picture. Production begins July 10 in New Jersey and AlUla, Saudi Arabia as part of Stampede Ventures’ 10-picture slate deal with Film AlUla.
Greg Silverman and Jon Berg will produce for Stampede Ventures, alongside Rohini Singh, Paramdeep Singh and Manmeet Singh of Astro Lion Pictures, and Cliff Roberts and Chad St. John, who also penned the script. Mike Tadross Jr. and Eric Hedayat will executive produce.
Black Bear represents international rights with WME Independent co-representing domestic rights with Stampede, and Sacker Entertainment Law overseeing production legal.
“Motor City” follows John Miller (Ritchson), a Detroit auto-worker whose life and girlfriend (Woodley) are taken away from him when he’s framed by a local gangster (Foster) and sent to prison. On his release, Miller unleashes a maelstrom of vengeance on those who wronged him as he attempts to win his girl back. The Detroit-set film will be characterized by immersive visual storytelling, with stunningly choreographed and stylized action sequences and a gritty rock soundscape from 12-time Grammy Award-winner and Detroit native Jack White as musical director.
Doug Coleman (“The Revenant,” “Ford V Ferrari,” “Red Notice”) will shoot 2nd unit and stunt coordinate, and Ritchson’s longtime stunt double Ryan Tarran (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” “See”) is onboard as fight choreographer.
Berg, Stampede Ventures’ president of production, said: “This movie is somewhere between an opera, a music video, and an action movie. Emotion conveys without language being essential; the actors’ performances are front and center. Potsy has a killer vision for the film: dynamic camera, brilliant music, muscle cars, and an immersive sound design surrounding badass action sequences. ‘Motor City’ will be a standout film; a cinematic and sonic feast that should boldly stand out in the marketplace.”
Woodley had her big screen breakthrough in “The Descendants.” She went on to star in the “Divergent” series and subsequently appeared in “The Spectacular Now” (2013), “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014), “Adrift” (2018), “Ferrari” (2023), and HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Woodley will next star in the television series “Three Women,” based on the novel by Lisa Taddeo, as well as in the Amazon film “Killer Heat,” alongside Joseph Gordon Levitt and Richard Madden. Woodley is repped by CAA and Range Media Partners.
Foster starred in “Lone Survivor” (2013), “Hell or High Water” (2016), “Leave No Trace” (2018), “Finestkind” (2023) and “The Mechanic” (2011). He is repped by Range Media Partners.
Schreiber’s film roles include “First Man” (2018), “SkyScraper” (2018) and “Den of Thieves” (2018). He is starring in the Paramount+ Original show “Halo,” and previously appeared in the Starz show “American Gods,” and Netflix’s hit show “Orange Is the New Black.” Schreiber is repped by WME and Circle of Confusion.
Ponciroli’s recently directed “Greedy People,” starring Lily James, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Himesh Patel, which is set to be released domestically by Lionsgate. He previously directed “Old Henry” (2021), starring Tim Blake Nelson, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ponciroli is repped by Verve Talent and Literary Agency and Range Media Partners.
Stampede Ventures’ recently released films include Lionsgate’s “Ordinary Angels,” starring Hilary Swank and Ritchson, the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Saint of Second Chances,” and the young adult feature “Pink Skies Ahead,” starring Mary J. Blige and Jessica Barden, acquired by MTV Studios.
Stampede Ventures’ upcoming film releases include the female-driven “Space Cadet,” starring Emma Roberts, Poppy Liu, Gabrielle Union, Tom Hopper and Sebastián Yatra, which will be released on Amazon Prime worldwide. Film titles in production include Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut with the music-inclined “K-POPS!,” and the Emma Thompson thriller “The Fisherwoman,” as well as the television series “The Darkness,” directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Lena Olin. Titles in development include the Wattpad YA film “Chasing Red.” They have over 80 projects in development.
More from Variety