Production on Gerard Butler’s revenge drama Motor City comes to a screeching halt

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Well this is an annoying way to start my day.

I’ve written up quite a bit covering the various developments on Albert Hughes’ MOTOR CITY, and seeing as how the man is a passionate director with a solid visual awareness I’ve been definitely looking forward to his take on the tried and true tropes of MOTOR CITY’s simple revenge tale.  Which may of course still happen, but the prognosis isn’t at all what it could be.

It seems that as casting dragged on, what with the lead role basically being a revolving door for the last six months, production company Emmet/Furla films realized that the pre-planned release date of Mach 29th provided by distribution studio Dark Castle was “a drop-dead date.”  This meant that it could not be shifted for any eventuality and so, despite only being three weeks out from the start of filming, it was decided that MOTOR CITY would need more than its currently planned twelve weeks of post-production and could not be delivered on time.  Not being able to work with the support of Dark Castle in turn threw into jeopardy the foreign distribution deals, and it’s just a mess.  The crew was even outright sent home. 

Adrien Brody was recently in talks to play the villain, joining a cast that included Butler, Amber Heard, and Mickey Rourke.  Production may start up again down the line, but MOTOR CITY will first have to secure a new release date and a new bond to justify all of the foreign distribution.  More as this develops.

Official statement and all that: “Faced with the realities of a very short post-production schedule and complicated visual and special effects, the producers have decided to push back production on Albert Hughes’ Motor City. We are dedicated to delivering top-tier productions such as 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg which is currently in production and Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor which is in pre-production. The circumstances surrounding this project made it impossible to meet the firm March 31st delivery date without compromising the quality of the film.”