Simon West to direct Aussie car racing flick, Dust and Glory

Nobody's ever going to mistake Simon West for one of the great directors, but the guy knows what he does best and sticks to it. The couple of times the Con Air helmer has veered out of his comfort zone, we were treated to the silly horror One Missed Call and the histrionic The General's Daughter. After taking a few years off, West came back in a big way earlier this year directing Jason Statham in The Mechanic, one of my favorites movies of the year. Seriously. It's not often we get to see Statham as a special agent who kicks ass. *snort*


While he's currently filming the most actiony of action films, The Expendables 2, West is already lining up his next gig which will keep him in his chosen genre. THR reports he's in negotiations to helm Dust and Glory, based on the novel by well known Australian rally driver and journalist, Evan Green. Described as a romance adventure with touches of Mad Max and Jewel of the Nile, the story is centered on the 1950s Redex trials, a 10000 mile race through some of the most dangerous terrain in all of Australia.

The script is by Prey producer, Robert Lewis Galinsky, and plans are for production to kick off next summer in Australia. Before The Expendables 2 storms theaters next August, he'll have the Nic Cage/Malin Akerman taxi cab thriller Medallion released on May 25th.