Looks like former Batman, Michael Keaton, is looking to raise his profile a bit. In just about a year from now he’ll appear in the Robocop reboot and today, he has signed on for the Need for Speed film, coming to us from DreamWorks. Already set to feature Aaron Paul in the lead role with Dominic Cooper co-starring, the Scott Waugh-helmed film will be based off of EA’s best-selling racing game. With a supporting cast that includes Imogen Poots, Kid Cudi and Ramon Rodriguez, Keaton makes a nice addition to the already well-cast film.
Keaton will play a “reclusive and eccentric host of an underground supercar race where he invites the best drivers from around the world.” It sounds like a fun role for the actor and I’m happy to see him joining the film, which is scripted by John Gatins and centers on “a local street racer (Paul) who partners with a rich and arrogant business associate (Cooper), only to find himself framed by his colleague and sent to prison. After his stint in the joint, he joins a New York-to-Los Angeles race to get revenge. But when the ex-partner learns of the scheme, he puts a massive bounty on the racer’s head, forcing him to run a cross-country gauntlet of illegal racers in all manner of supercharged vehicles.”
Keaton has appeared in few feature films over the last little while, with his last big screen roles coming in 2010 with The Other Guys and Toy Story 3. Of course, he’s most well known for playing The Caped Crusader in Batman and Batman Returns. He’s obviously not as big a name as he once was but still, having Michael Keaton show up in your film is far from a bad thing. I enjoy him whenever he’s on screen and I’m happy to see him taking on a role like this one.
The Need for Speed film will likely be only a bit better than your “average movie based on a game” but at the very least, we’ll be getting a strong cast. With a February 7, 2014 release date set, it will be interesting to see how this one turns out. Like I said, it has a solid cast, but the film as a whole seems like it will be another forgettable videogame-based movie, although maybe just slightly better than the average offering in the genre.
