Anne Hathaway is trading high fashion and royal duties for horsepower as she prepares to enter the world of NASCAR alongside Tom Cruise.
Hathaway will co-star with Cruise in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming follow-up to the 1990 racing drama “Days of Thunder,” bringing together two of Hollywood’s biggest stars for their first feature film collaboration.
Cruise is returning as Cole Trickle, the ambitious driver he first played nearly four decades ago. Hathaway will step into the racing world as a new character, playing a race team owner and engineer.
That role puts Hathaway in an intriguing position within the new story. Rather than simply joining the action from the sidelines, her character will have both technical expertise and authority inside the racing operation.
Paramount has already planted a flag on the theatrical calendar. The movie is scheduled to arrive June 2, 2028, with plans for a large-scale theatrical presentation that includes IMAX, Dolby Cinema and 4DX.
Jonathan Levine will direct the project from a screenplay by Will Staples. Cruise is also serving as a producer alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.
The announcement appropriately arrived with some genuine racing atmosphere. Cruise and Hathaway appeared together at Daytona International Speedway during NASCAR’s regular-season finale weekend, connecting the Hollywood production directly with the sport that inspired the original film.
The first “Days of Thunder,” directed by Tony Scott and released in 1990, followed Trickle as he attempted to establish himself in NASCAR. The movie featured an ensemble that included Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid and John C. Reilly.
While the original arrived during an earlier phase of Cruise’s career, returning to Cole Trickle now gives the actor another opportunity to revisit one of his best-known characters decades later.
Hathaway, meanwhile, arrives with plenty of momentum of her own. Her recent run of high-profile projects has kept her moving between dramas, major adaptations and established franchises, and the racing film adds another distinctly different role to that lineup.
Specific details about the sequel’s story remain under wraps, including exactly how Trickle and Hathaway’s team owner will cross paths.
One thing is already clear: when “Days of Thunder” returns in 2028, Cole Trickle will not be the only heavyweight in the garage.
