The pairing of new filmmakers Soham Mehta and Rajiv Shah is presenting Twilight’s Taylor Lautner with the chance to finally flex his acting muscles, in a forthcoming dramatic road movie. With the actor confirmed as being in negotiations for what is effectively the lead role, Run The Tide has taken a big step toward the big screen.
The film follows a man (possibly Lautner) who kidnaps his younger brother and heads for the California coastline, in an attempt to escape the clutches of their drug-addicted mother as she is released from jail. Making a desperate break for the life they always wanted, the siblings find themselves closely pursued by their mother and her ex-husband.
The screenplay for this movie – written by Rajiv Shah – has already begun to generate a great deal of positive word of mouth. As his first feature length script, it won the Grand Jury Prize for Project Catalyst at the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Focused on characterization, it provides a view of the complexities human relationships. At the helm will be Soham Mehta – an award-winning director of short films.
The prospects for this project are very encouraging. In Mehta and Shah, we have two talented, new artists – with fresh ideas and, hopefully, refreshing approaches. We have a range of interesting characters dealing with challenging and emotional circumstances, and we have a production that can be undertaken as a low-budget independent film, therefore preserving the vision intended by the screenplay.
We also – potentially – have Taylor Lautner, who has thus far struggled to shed the wolf-skin he so memorably bore as The Twilight Saga’s third wheel, Jacob. His first attempt to leap into leading man territory – 2011’s Abduction – was more of a whimper than roar, and his appearance in the ill-advised Grown-Ups 2 caused more howls of pain than of laughter. With a project of such calibre as Run The Tide on his horizon, however, any suggestion that the actor might simply limp away with his tail between his legs is no more. Here is the chance for Taylor Lautner to put the wolf firmly behind him, and show us what he’s really made of.
