'Fast & Loose': Will Smith Teams Up With Director David Leitch For Spy Thriller
Will Smith has found his next starring vehicle and it's coming from the director of Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw. Smith is teaming up with David Leitch for a spy thriller called Fast & Loose, in which Smith will star as the leader of an upper-echelon criminal organization who suffers from memory loss and goes on a hunt for his true identity.
Deadline reports that David Leitch is set to direct Fast & Loose, Will Smith's next starring vehicle — following his runaway slave drama with Antoine Fuqua — that has already become the subject of a major bidding war. The film will star Smith as a man suffering from amnesia, who traces his identity back to two double lives, one of which he must decide is the real one.
Here's the logline, per Deadline:
After the leader of an upper-echelon criminal organization suffers memory loss from an attack, he reunites with his crew, only to find that things aren't what he thinks they are. When John Riley (Smith) wakes up in Tijuana after being left for dead with absolutely no memory, he follows a string of clues to uncover his identity discovering he's been living two different lives: one, as a super-successful crime kingpin, surrounded by beautiful women, expensive toys, and a lavish lifestyle and the other as an undercover CIA agent, but with a puny salary, no family or home life whatsoever, and zero trappings of success. The problem is, he can't remember which of these two personas is his true identity, and, more importantly, which life he really wants to live.
Penned by Jon and Eric Hoeber (Meg, Red), Fast & Loose was originally developed by STXfilms, with Leitch on board only as producer and no star attached. Leitch has since stepped up to direct and Smith has signed on to star, following his team-up with Fuqua for Apple's high-profile feature film Emancipation. Fast & Loose is being shopped to both studios and streamers, with Warner Bros, Paramount, MGM and Sony all vying for the project, according to Deadline. Leitch and Kelly McCormick will produce for 87North, and Smith, his co-president and head of motion pictures Jon Mone and James Lassiter are producing with Westbrook Studios.
Smith has mostly pursued major blockbuster roles throughout his career, which makes his recent choices feel a little stale. With the days of him taking on difficult dramatic roles seemingly behind him, it feels like we're left with a star who's more personality than actor. His teaming up with Leitch, who has become the hottest director in town even though he's never matched the heights of his John Wick co-director Chad Stahelski, doesn't make this project any more exciting. But who knows, maybe Fast & Loose may be both Smith and Leitch's next big hit.