Netflix picks up distribution rights to Frank Grillo's action-thriller Wheelman

Netflix has bought the rights to distribute upcoming action-thriller Wheelman, starring Captain America: Civil War actor Frank Grillo. The streaming service officially picked up the film at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this week.

The movie follows, you guessed it, a guy labelled as the "Wheelman", played by Grillo – a getaway driver forced into a high stakes race-to-survive after a bank robbery goes horribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking away as he tries to figure out who double-crossed him, and the only person he can trust is his 14-year-old daughter.

Jeremy Rush (Caribe Road) is already on board to direct the Drive-sounding picture, with filming set to kick off in the autumn of 2016. Writer-director Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team) is producing.

This isn't the only deal that's been struck at Cannes over the past few days. On 17 May, director Nicolas Winding Refn announced that he will be co-producing a remake of Witchfinder General, however, the project is yet to find a director. It will reportedly begin production this summer.

Casting news has been rife this year too, what with the announcements that Sean Bean has joined in war thriller Drone, Colin Farrell has signed on for Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and Laura Dern has been cast in biographical picture The Tale over the past week.

This isn't Netflix's first time delving into the movie industry either, having previously teamed with Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment to create comedy drama War Machine which will allegedly reach the service later this year. Topher Grace and The Revenant's Will Poulter are set to star with Pitt himself in the film.

Grillo will next be seen in crime thriller Jekyll Island opposite Glee star Dianna Agron and John Leguizamo. He is also reprising his role as Sergeant in horror sequel The Purge: Election Year alongside Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell.

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