Brad Pitt could be the next big name Hollywood actor to make an impact in the action genre as Deadline has confirmed that the Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and Ad Astra star has joined the cast of David Leitch's Bullet Train. The project is based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka, and the two likely met when Pitt filmed his cameo as Vanisher for Deadpool 2.
In that book, five assassins find themselves on a fast moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. They then discover their missions are not unrelated to each other, and the question becomes who will make it off the train alive and what awaits them at the terminal station?
No other cast members have been revealed yet, but Fear Street's Zak Olkewicz is penning the screenplay, while Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer), who was originally directing, is on board to produce.
Leitch is overseeing revisions on the screenplay, and the hope is that shooting will begin this fall. The movie is reportedly a "contained thriller," meaning it can be shot on a contained set rather than on location, something which will help a lot given the restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There's no word on a release date at this point, but it seems likely that we'll see it late next year or in early 2022 depending how quick the shoot is. Still, with Pitt now attached to star, it's clearly a project we can expect attract some big names. What many fans will now wonder, however, is whether the actor could next choose to board a major superhero franchise after working on Bullet Train...