After walking away from the John Wick franchise, director David Leitch took the helm of both Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw, establishing himself as an action director to watch in Hollywood. Next up for him is Bullet Train, a big screen adaptation of the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka.
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?
Recently, Brad Pitt signed up to star in the movie, and Variety has now confirmed that The Kissing Booth actress Joey King is the next major addition to the cast. Her other credits include The Dark Knight Rises, The Conjuring, Independence Day: Resurgence, and horror movie Slender Man.
As you might expect, there's no word on who King will be playing as story and character details are being kept a closely guarded secret. 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.