EXCLUSIVE: STXfilms has set F. Gary Gray to direct Vin Diesel in the action-comedy Muscle, which will be Gray’s next film and will shoot later this year. Reginald Hudlin and Byron Phillips are producing alongside Diesel and Samantha Vincent for One Race Films. Gray will be executive producer through his Fenix Studios banner.
Diesel and Gray developed a rapport making 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, a film that grossed more than $1.2 billion in global box office. The latest draft of Muscle is by John Swetnam and Malcolm Spellman. The original script was written by Scott Taylor & Wesley Jermaine Johnson. The film’s log line is being kept under wraps.
“There are few directors who can match Gary’s skill with character, comedy and big action, which is why he is one of the most accomplished and in-demand directors working today,” said Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture Group. “Over the years, Vin and I have worked together on a number of hit movies, and it’s a thrill to reteam Vin and Gary after their billion-dollar success on The Fate of the Furious. This will become one of the most eagerly anticipated films on our slate.”
Diesel also starred in Gray’s 2003 action thriller A Man Apart.
Muscle will be overseen by STX’s Drew Simon and Kevin Sauer. Straight Outta Compton helmer Gray, who is also developing to direct Saints Row, and M.A.S.K. for Paramount and Hasbro, is repped by UTA and attorney Nina Shaw; Diesel, who’ll next be seen starring in the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise and is coming off Bloodshot, is repped by CAA and Linden Entertainment.
Muscle adds to an STX slate that includes the Kristen Bell-Vince Vaughn-starrer Queenpins, a new action film directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jason Statham, Hugh Grant, and Aubrey Plaza; The Marsh King’s Daughter, starring Daisy Ridley and directed by Neil Burger; American Sole, starring Pete Davidson, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Bad Bunny; the Jennifer Lopez starrer Godmother; the Dave Bautista starrer Universe’s Most Wanted; and the Chris Pine starrer Violence of Action.
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The companion films are produced by Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry and others.
Apple Original Films has picked up Number One on the Call Sheet, two documentary features about pioneering Black actors and actresses, with backing from Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Angela Bassett and Halle Berry.
Apple will debut the companion films globally on Apple TV+. Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Women in Hollywood, directed by Shola Lynch, celebrates Black achievement in the film industry and what it takes for Black women actors to find success in the film business.
The film is executive produced by Bassett and Berry. The second doc, Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, will be directed by Reginald Hudlin and similarly chronicles the experiences of Black male actors who paved the way for today’s Black American stars in Hollywood.
Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Datari Turner and Dan Cogan will produce the second film. Reginald Hudlin and Bryan Smiley will executive produce both documentaries.
Apple’s recent and upcoming releases include the Billie Eilish doc from R.J. Cutler and the Russo brothers’ Cherry.
Randy McKinnon, who broke out writing Disney+’s football drama “Safety,” will write the “Static Shock” script for DC Films and Warner Bros., according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
“One of the things we’re really excited about, we really want to live up to the name of the company, Milestone Media,” Hudlin said at FanDome. “When we spoke to Jim [Lee] about reviving the Milestone line, we said, ‘Look, we all know this has been a hit comic book and hit animated series. It’s time to expand back into all those areas and then some.’ So we’re in serious conversations about, as we’re launching the comic book series, developing the ‘Static Shock’ movie. That will be a theatrical feature film.”
The character of Static was created by Milestone Comics founders Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle. In the comics, a teen named Virgil Ovid Hawkins becomes a new kind of hero, named Static, after exposure to a radioactive chemical renders him capable of electromagnetic control and generation. In addition to DC Comics, he was the focus of the animated series “Static Shock,” which aired on Kids WB from 2000-2004.
