EXCLUSIVE: Ilya Naishuller is in negotiations to take over as director of Amazon MGM Studios‘ Road House 2, following Guy Ritchie’s exit from the project for undisclosed reasons earlier this month, Deadline can reveal.
The project reunites Naishuller with the studio following his success there with Heads of State, an action comedy that premiered on Prime Video July 2. The film, starring Idris Elba, John Cena, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, has ranked as the #1 film on the service for three weeks.
Set to shoot this fall, Road House 2‘s plot is being kept under wraps. Attracting 80M viewers worldwide in its first eight weeks on Prime Video, the first film, reimagining an ’80s classic starring Swayze, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. Gyllenhaal will of course reprise in the sequel.
Will Beall penned the script. Charles Roven and Alex Gartner are producing for Atlas Entertainment, alongside Gyllenhaal and Josh McLaughlin of Nine Stories Productions.
Prior to Heads of State, Naishuller directed Universal’s action thriller Nobody, turning Bob Odenkirk into an action star, which debuted at #1 at the box office and was Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The Russian filmmaker’s command of action-driven storytelling is also evidenced in his first-person debut feature Hardcore Henry, which he wrote, directed and produced. That film, starring Sharlto Copley, received the People’s Choice Award in its debut within the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival.
Naishuller is represented by CAA, Inga V. Smith at IV Management, and Sloane Offer.
