Now that Michael Bay has denied that he’s directing the toilet meme movie, I’m hearing that he is indeed set to start shooting his next film later this summer.
Bay is stepping back into the director’s chair, this time with Will Smith in tow for the action-thriller “Fast and Loose,” which is being handled by Netflix. Production is supposed to begin on this one in August.
The script was penned by four writers: Jon and Erich Hoeber, Chris Bremner, and Eric Pearson.
“Fast and Loose” centers on a man who wakes up in Tijuana with no memory and soon realizes he’s been living a double life—one as a high-level criminal, the other as a covert CIA operative. It’s the kind of wild, high-concept premise tailor-made for Bay’s signature brand of mayhem.
Bay, of course, is no stranger to over-the-top spectacle, having built a career on adrenaline-fueled blockbusters filled with rapid-fire edits, glossy visuals, and plenty of things blowing up. He last helmed 2022’s “Ambulance,” and also delivered “6 Underground” for Netflix in 2019.
Bay’s resume includes genre staples like “The Rock,” “Armageddon,” “Transformers,” and the original “Bad Boys. Still, “Pain & Gain” (2013)—a twisted, darkly comic take on the American dream with a bulked-up Mark Wahlberg and a coked up Dwayne Johnson—remains arguably his most entertaining work.
Smith, meanwhile, seems to be regaining momentum in the aftermath of the Oscar slap. Riding the wave of last summer’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” he’s lining up an increasingly busy slate. In addition to “Fast and Loose,” he’s attached himself to “I Am Legend 2,” “Hancock 2,” “Resistor,” a sci-fi thriller from Sony, and “The Council.”