Simon West Moving From Expendables 2 To Dust And Glory

After overdosing on testosterone on the set of Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables 2, director Simon West plans to purge his creative palette with a trip Down Under to film Dust and Glory, a racing movie that reportedly captures a slice of Australia’s automotive history.

Based on Evan Green’s novel of the same name, Dust takes place during Australia’s infamous Redex Trials in the 1950s. They were lengthy, difficult races around the continent that actually happened, though Green mixes fact and fiction for his adventurous novel. Back when the novel came out, the plot was described as a mix of Mad Max and Jewel of the Nile. Had they said Romancing the Stone I’d be 100% on board, but still, those are intriguing tones to mash together, so West has plenty to work with.

The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story, says West would like to start filming in Australia in the summertime, and would get a call out to potential cast to make that happen. Robert Lewis Galinsky will handle the scripting duties, and focus his story on an intense rivalry between an Aussie superstar and an American upstart. Get me a young Michael Douglas for the latter role, stat!

West, in all honesty, should have very little trouble helming the action for Dust and Glory, having directed Con Air, The Mechanic and a Lara Croft film with Angelina Jolie. It would be nice to see him mix in some intentional laughter with his action set pieces. The new movie sounds like it has that potential, and, therefore, could be a lot of fun.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Sean created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.