Vince Vaughn Gets Serious

Vince Vaughn and Tony Scott: Together At Last!

Vince Vaughn looks to be teaming up with Tony Scott, for the upcoming ‘Lucky Strike’.

The film is currently budgeted at $80 million. The script, written by Henry Bean (‘Internal Affairs’, B’asic Instinct 2′) has been on Scott’s ‘to do’ list for a while. 20th Century Fox will be distributing.

The story has DEA agent teams with a drug runner to take down a drug cartel.

What’s interesting, apart from the fact that Tony Scott is finally following up after 2010′s ‘Unstoppable’ is that Vince Vaughn will be tackling a dramatic role after a string of ‘comedies’.

Rising to prominence on the back of 1996′s ‘Swingers’, Vaughn immediately hit the big leagues, starring in ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ in 1997. He followed up with a trip down indie lane with an excellent turn in ‘Clay Pigeons’ (1998) and boldly signed up for Gus Van Sant’s remake of ‘Psycho’, released the same year. Tarsem’s ‘The Cell’ in 2000 and a return to work with good buddy Jon Favreau on 2001′s ‘Made’ set Vaughn up as an actor willing to take risks, capable of a variety of dramatic turns. It was in 2003 that his career changed, with the success of Todd Phillips’ ‘Old School’.

Hard to believe, but this was Vaughn’s first comedic role.

Following on with films like ‘Starsky & Hutch’, ‘Dodgeball’, ‘Anchorman’ and ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, Vaughn fully explored his wise-cracking on-screen persona, to the point where taking him seriously was no longer an option.

A brief, excellent moment in 2007′s ‘Into The Wild’ was overshadowed by the horrors of ‘Fred Claus’, ‘Four Christmases’ and ‘Couples Retreat’.

2012 will see Vaughn star in ‘Neigbourhood Watch’ – described as ‘The ‘Burbs with Aliens’ and he’s signed up for Shawn Levy’s ‘Interns’, where he and Owen Wilson will star as 40-somethings starting at the bottom of the corporate ladder under 20-something bosses. The film is currently scheduled for a 2014 release.

With Vaughn in a Tony Scott film, it could see him returning to the place where he’s offered roles of a meatier, more dramatic nature. If you’ve seen ‘Clay Pigeons’, then you’ll know that’s a good thing.

I directed ‘Top Gun’ and ‘The Hunt For Red October’, so you can give me $80 Million, no probs, right?