Next year, the Oscars add an award for Best Stunt Designer. Matthew Dickens aims for The Devil’s Train to win it. It’s a “simple” premise that will be filled with lots of practical stunts. A time-traveling cowboy stuntman puts a team together to rob… the Devil’s train.
Currently in pre-production, the action-packed film will shoot this summer in locations around the world. The goal? A December 2027 release in time to be eligible for that first Stunt Academy Award. Stunt Designer legend Jack Gill directs, with Dickens producing. “I want that first win for Jack and his team and all the drugstore cowboys who came before! Jack Gill spent nearly 35 years of his life campaigning for stunt performers to have that category within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and it’s finally happening on the 100th anniversary of the Oscars in 2028!” Dickens said in a press release from his production company Cliffhanger Cowboys.
To that end, Gill and Dickens have assembled a strong cast of actors who also have stunt bona fides. That includes Gill’s daughter Katie Gill in the role of Daisy Morgan aka “Ball Buster.” With training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts along with learning the ropes as it were from her father, Katie Gill will create a memorable action character.
She’s joined by former Team Canada athlete Lauren Peters as shape-shifting Hollywood vixen the B-Movie Baroness. I love that character name. It points toward fun that knows its Hollywood history.
Of course, it’s a time travel story, so creator Dickens will cameo as the man who really inspired him in the first place, Hal Needham. That allows the chance to drive Needham’s original Skoal Bandit stock car in a death race against a blacked out 57 Chevy known as Rosemary’s Baby. Needham recruited Jack Gill into stunt work, and in turn Gill took Dickens under his wing.
The demon-possessed cyborg called “Blondie” will be played by Irish actor Jack Hudson. If you’re one of those who’ve picked up the preview sampler of the upcoming graphic novel, you’ll recognize Blondie as a key driver of the action. No pun intended. The driving is up to Dickens.
The devil himself? Played by veteran actor Matthias Hues, who looks to bring a hulking gravitas to the role. Sure, with those pecs and abs you’d think he’d be set for a remake of The Wrath of Khan, but Hues was actually in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Recruited from the cast of the original Predator, Viet Nam veteran Richard Chaves has a special cameo as General “Poncho” Morgan.
Safe to presume that General Morgan will have something to do with the character of Scout Thunderfoot, described as a former Green Beret and stunt man. Actor Nikolas Pelekai (Superman) will be joining the team.
Rounding out the announcements so far, Carly Zelner is aboard as Hollywood Journalist Jael Pauline. Behind the scenes she also has taken on a role as a producer.
The lead role of the time-traveling stuntman Hondo has not yet been announced, but Dickens hints it will be coming soon.
