Ben Foster Cast as Evel Knievel, Ed Helms Joins Jay Baruchel’s ‘The Stunt Driver’ Now in Production
The film dramatizes Montreal daredevil Ken Carter’s rocket-car bid to clear the Saint Lawrence in the 1970s.
Overview
- Writer-director Michael Dowse is filming the comedy-drama with Jay Baruchel starring as stunt driver Ken Carter and serving as an executive producer.
- Ben Foster will portray Evel Knievel, and Ed Helms plays engineer Dick Keller, with Laurence Leboeuf as Gloria and Dan Bakkedahl as Carter’s manager.
- Additional casting includes Joe Cobden and Marc Beaupré, rounding out the ensemble announced alongside the production start.
- Jennifer Wilson produces under the Film Cardinal banner, and UTA Independent Film Group is handling domestic sales for the project.
- Dowse frames the story as a tragicomic portrait of obsessive ambition in the vein of The Straight Story or Fitzcarraldo, emphasizing Carter’s push to attempt the impossible.