Just as filmmakers have looked to the 1980s for inspiration in recent years, so it seems the ’90s is about to become the go-to muse, with Jake Gyllenhaal teaming up with director Michael Bay for a Speed and Bad Boys-esque action flick called Ambulance. A remake of the Danish movie Ambulancen, no distribution deal has closed yet, but sources say Universal Pictures is finalizing a deal to land distribution rights.
While details for the movie are being kept under wraps, Ambulance is based on a script that has been kicking around for quite a while which follows a vet just back from Afghanistan who is drawn by his brother into a bank robbery in downtown Los Angeles. When the robbery goes horribly wrong, the brothers take hostages and hijack an ambulance. As the situation escalates, old wounds reopen in the relationship between the brothers as they fight to survive what seems like an impossible situation.
Ambulance sounds like the perfect vehicle for Bay to ply his explosive, ludicrously over-the-top trade, with Gyllenhaal no doubt elevating the material thanks to his consistently reliable talent. the original script was written by Chuck and Legends of Tomorrow’s Chris Fedak penned the original script, which is based on the 2005 thriller Ambulancen. James Vanderbilt, Bradley Fischer and Will Sherak are producing the project.
Aside from Ambulance, Jake Gyllenhaal is keeping busy. The actor is due to reunite with Southpaw director Antoine Fuqua for a remake of another Danish thriller, the critically acclaimed The Guilty. Taking place exclusively in one location, the story follows an alarm dispatcher and former police officer, who answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins.
The Oscar-nominated actor also revealed recently that he will be teaming up once again with Dune director Denis Villeneuve for a mysterious new project. The actor previously worked under the direction of Villeneuve in the one-two punch of disturbing brilliance, Enemy and Prisoners, both released in 2013. Gyllenhaal is also due to star opposite Oscar Isaac in director Barry Levinson’s Francis And The Godfather, a drama about the legendary and wild battles that went into making the 1972 gangster classic The Godfather. Isaac is set to star as Francis Ford Coppola, with Gyllenhaal as producer Robert Evans.
As for Michael Bay, he is one of the producers behind the upcoming too-real-for-comfort post-apocalyptic thriller Songbird. Set in a world in which the COVID-23 virus has mutated, and the world is in its fourth year of lockdown, infected Americans are being ripped from their homes and forced into quarantine camps known as Q-Zones, from which there is no escape. Amid this dystopian landscape, a fearless courier, Nico (K.J. Apa), who’s immune to the deadly pathogen, finds hope and love with Sara (Sofia Carson), though her lockdown prohibits them from physical contact. When Sara is believed to have become infected, Nico races desperately across the barren streets of Los Angeles in search of the only thing that can save her from imprisonment … or worse. Songbird is due for release next year. This comes to us courtesy of Deadline.
