Director Steven Soderbergh made heist movies endlessly cool with Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen. But the filmmaker claimed he was retiring from directing movies four years ago (after helming 2013’s Side Eff, so it’s too bad we won’t get any more heist flicks from him. That is, unless he comes back!
Rumblings that Soderbergh was coming out of retirement circulated throughout the movie press more than a year ago. (He never truly retired, however, working as a cinematographer on Magic Mike XXL and directing all 20 episodes of Cinemax’s period medical drama The Knick.) The project that enticed him to return to the director’s chair was another heist film, this one taking place far away from the slick, stylish, tech-savvy crew and glamourous casino locales of the Ocean’s movies.
When originally reported, Soderbergh’s new film had the working title of Hillbilly Heist, but that was too on the nose. The story about two destitute brothers who decide to rob a NASCAR race was eventually called Logan Lucky. (Or was it Lucky Logan? No, it’s Logan Lucky.)
.@channingtatum is here to crash your party,@NASCAR fans. #LoganLucky #CocaCola600 pic.twitter.com/LwnttfhaQZ
— Logan Lucky (@loganluckymovie) May 29, 2017
Starring Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as the two brothers, with a bleached-blonde Daniel Craig playing the expert (in robbery or explosives) who helps them, Logan Lucky focuses on the trio’s attempt to rob the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Surely timed to run with the real Coca-Cola 600 this past weekend, along with the Indianapolis 500, the movie’s first trailer made its debut. Take a look:
With the Southern accents and buffoonish lead characters, Logan Lucky gives off a slight Talladega Nights vibe. But judging from the trailer, the scope of the story — attempting to rob a place full of 40,000-plus spectators, along with security, staff, crew and everyone else in attendance, creates a much different, though no less challenging setting from a Las Vegas casino.
Tatum and Driver as apparently less-than-intellectual wannabe thieves should provide enough comedy. But Craig looks like the revelation in a role nothing like James Bond, as a Southern good ol’ boy and convict. With the bleached hair and striped prison jumpsuit, he looks more like a character out of a Coen Brothers’ movie. (Maybe this is Soderbergh’s take on a Coens type of story.) But the name “Joe Bang” is probably a play on James Bond, right?
Six NASCAR drivers will reportedly make cameo appearance in Logan Lucky, including Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards, though none will appear as themselves. According to Rolling Stone, Busch will play a state trooper. As you can see in the trailer, Sebastian Stan (Captain America: Civil War) plays a race-car driver in the movie.
Logan Lucky is set to hit theaters on Aug. 18.