Is Tom Cruise Preparing For Days of Thunder 2?
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Ever since Days of Thunder came out in 1990, many race fans have wondered if a sequel would ever be made.
With Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as the lead stars, Days of Thunder became one of the most realistic examples of what NASCAR racing truly is all about.
It’s been THE movie most folks have used as a standard when comparing other NASCAR movies, prior to and after DOT, including the hysterical spoof, Talladega Nights, that came out three years ago.
The star of Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell, has already said he might be open to doing a sequel if the right storyline comes along.
As for Cruise, he’s been spending a lot of time around NASCAR in recent months.
Not only did Cruise attend the annual NASCAR awards banquet in New York last December (my daughter met his current wife, Katie Holmes, and talked with her for about 15 minutes after her appearance in the Broadway play All My Sons the next afternoon), he was a pretty prominent guest in the Hendrick Motorsports pits at Atlanta two weekends ago and has been a guest at the Hendrick camp near Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Oh yes, one other thing – Cruise is the narrator of Together: The Hendrick Motorsports Story, due to air Oct. 11 on ABC, prior to the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think that because he’s been hanging around so much, particularly in the Hendrick camp, maybe, just maybe, Cruise is going to reprise his role in, for lack of a better phrase, Days of Thunder II.
Think about it: Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the film’s release. And with Ferrell reportedly planning a sequel of the wildly successful Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, wouldn’t it make sense that a sequel of Talladega Nights is not too far behind?
Ergo, now can you see the reason to start thinking a Days of Thunder sequel may be on the horizon, as well?
No, I don’t have any inside information about any of this, but when an actor spends so much time hanging around a certain subject, it’s not a stretch to assume he’s doing research for a new movie. That’s what actors do: research and try to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, so as to prepare for a new role.
In the original DoT, the high point of the movie is when Cruise wins the Daytona 500.
If there indeed is a sequel to DoT on the horizon, the perfect storyline exists: Cruise as an aging Sprint Cup driver having one last chance at the championship (sounds kind of like Mark Martin’s quest this season, doesn’t it?).
I’d love to see Cruise and Kidman in a sequel. They met prior to starting production on the movie, fell in love in real life and eventually married after starring in the original flick, even though they eventually divorced. But having Kidman share the big screen again with her ex-husband might be a bit awkward.
If Kidman doesn’t want to reprise her role, hopefully one of my all-time favorite actors, Robert Duvall, will return as crusty crew chief Harry Hogge, even though he’s now 78 years old (hard to believe, frankly, that he’s that old now) – and would likely be pushing 80 by the time such a flick would go into production.
I mean, the 1977 hockey classic, Slapshot (yep, it’s 32 years old), had two sequels – forgettable ones that most people probably don’t even know were ever released (do yourself a favor, neither is worth viewing).
But if Days of Thunder were to have a sequel and Cruise and Duvall were in it, forget calling it Days of Thunder II. I have the perfect name for it: Nights of Lightning. Get it?
Catch ‘ya Wednesday.
