Great news for PHX author Jim Sallis!

‘Drive’ With Bobbi Starr, Andy San Dimas to Play Cannes
By Tom Hymes
Apr 14th, 2011 06:23 PM


CANNES, France—Drive ($13), a dark horse entry that features two adult performers, will be screened in a competition slot at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 11-22. As reported by AVN last year, the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed thriller includes the mainstream debut of adult stars Bobbi Starr and Andy San Dimas, who share the screen with Hollywood luminaries Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks.

"I'm the wife of an abusive husband, and my character is horribly fucked up and trapped in an abusive marriage," Starr told AVN in October. "I have battered wife syndrome. Basically, one of the main characters comes in, witnesses me and my husband fighting several times, and then one night he just gets fed up and threatens to kill my husband.”

At the time, San Dimas did not know much about her character—neither she nor Starr had shot their scenes yet—but was thrilled to have the gig.

“I auditioned for this movie a few months ago,” she told Peter Warren. “About 40 different industry babes were there auditioning as well. I walked in a little intimidated—I’d never read for a mainstream part like this. I memorized my script in five minutes and gave it my best. I honestly thought I had no chance, especially when I didn’t hear back from them for so long. When Spieg called me with the news, I was stoked!”
“Spieg” is talent agent Mark Spiegler, who represents both performers.

James Sallis

According to IndieWire, Drive is “a minimalist crime thriller based on the novel by the great James Sallis, about a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver.” The editors of the site are clearly big fans of Danish director Refn, who “made a massive impression with the one-two punch of Bronson andValhalla Rising a couple of years back.”

The site continues, “The script, by Hossein Amini, is lean and mean, and Gosling’s description of the project as 'Blue Velvet meets Purple Rain' only piqued our interest further, and that was before this morning’s announcement that the film would premiere in competition at Cannes.”

The editors also were pleased to hear that Cliff Martinez, a onetime drummer for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and longtime collaborater with director Steven Soderbergh, is writing the score for Drive.

More information about Cannes and the Drive screenings can be found on the festival website.

Other titles by James Sallis...

Lew Griffin
1. The Long-Legged Fly (1992)
2. Moth (1993)
3. Black Hornet (1994)
4. Eye of the Cricket (1997)
5. Blue Bottle (1998)
6. Ghost of a Flea (2001)

Turner
1. Cypress Grove (2003)
2. Cripple Creek (2005)
3. Salt River (2007)

Novels

Renderings (1995)
Death Will Have Your Eyes (1997)
Drive (2005)
The Killer is Dying (2011)