Taylor Lautner to star in parkour action thriller Tracers

May 14, 2012 by | 6 Comments

Lautner Parkour Image

Despite his lackluster film Abduction failing to convince the moviegoing public that Taylor Lautner could be a convincing action star, studios are continuing to push him on us in action roles. The latest news comes from Deadline, who reports that Lautner is being eyed for the lead role in Tracers, a parkour-based action thriller set in New York City. More below.

The story for Tracers sounds shockingly similar to the upcoming Joseph Gordon-Levitt film Premium Rush, in which JGL plays a bike messenger tasked with delivering a package through New York. Here’s the logline for the Lautner movie:

Lautner will play Cam, a messenger in New York City who is a wiz on a bike but who’s in debt to an organized crime gang. He crashes his bike into a sexy stranger and is seduced by her and the thrill of the world of parkour that she introduces him to.

Give me a break. A sexy stranger just happens to introduce him to the world of parkour? What is this, 2006? What executives out there still think that parkour is the hot new thing that kids are doing? This sounds terrible, but my only hope is that it’s so bad, it’s fun to watch.

Daniel Benmayor (Bruc, the Manhunt) is directing, and Tracers comes from the producers of Twilight and Dear John. Anyone think this has a chance at being legitimately good? It’s going to take a lot of convincing for me.

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  • RossBondReturns

    While I’m rather nonplussed about the casting choice I’m not nonplussed about the authors comment about executives thinking that Parkour is still the hot thing kids are doing.

    Parkour has long been more than some hot thing kids are doing. Those of us who practice Parkour keep physically fit and take things very seriously- for us it’s not a lark and never has been. Parkour takes lots of time spent in training, physical conditioning and man hours of perfecting our skills and improvement.

    While I’m glad to see more Parkour in films I am tired of it being seen as some throw away- hot thing that kids are doing. It’s much more than that. Hopefull this film does more than touch on that and reaches out to the Parkour community to bring some needed depth and realism to the things behind the scenes of Parkour.

    • http://filmonic.com Liam

      Thanks for your comment. Did you like the opening scene of Casino Royale?

      • RossBondReturns

        I did.

        It had a great flow to it and was consistently building in excitement. Everyone brought their A-game for that sequence.

    • http://notjustnewmovies.blogspot.com/ BenPears

      You’re totally right. I should have clarified – Hollywood’s perception of parkour is tired, boring, and very much driven by a “fad” mentality. The opening of Casino Royale was awesome, and one of the few times it’s been handled in a really excellent way on film. I have the utmost respect for people who practice it (I tried for a while a few years back, but didn’t have the upper body strength to pull off the more daring moves), and I should have been more specific in my article. Thanks for calling me out – I’ll be more careful about that next time.

      • RossBondReturns

        Hey it’s no problem. Believe me I write for my own blogs and sometimes I’m not as clear as I think I am being. I’ll write something I feel is clear and someone will call me on the fact that I perhaps…thought I had finished a thought when I had in fact not.

        As for myself and Parkour, I’m not doing it as much as I want to anymore simply because old sports injuries are catching up with me. However I do from time to time return to Parkour when my knees aren’t giving me issue.

        Here’s to hoping they really take an in depth look at Parkour (as in depth as they can in a film) and make sure that they mention the effort, training and danger that go into it. And the joy that comes from it when it is practiced responsibly.

  • Guesty

    Why do parkour people get so serious over parkour?