Jason Statham may drive Death Race

Given that it’s been mouldering in the turnaround garage for months ever since Paramount shoved it there following the Tom Cruise fall-out, we were starting to wonder whether Death Race – the remake of 1975’s Death Race 2000 would ever hit the starting grid.

Now, though, with Paul WS Anderson scribbling a script and happy to hoist the megaphone, it looks like there’s new fuel in the tank thanks to Universal picking the film up and Jason Statham considering the lead role that Cruise flirted with before last year’s Hollywood slap fight.

Cruise is still on board to produce alongside Roger Corman, who made the original. There’s no word on the new movie’s plot, though chances are it’ll stick to the story of a dystopian future and the violent road race from New York to LA in which drivers score extra points for killing bystanders with their powerful cars. So not controversial at all, then.

With Anderson in the directing seat, we’re not completely convinced it’ll work – we’re worried it’ll be more Rollerball than Dawn Of The Dead in the remake stakes. It starts shooting later in the year.