Despite being criminally snubbed this year with regard to Oscar nominations, Drive was easily one of the most critically-acclaimed and talked about films of 2011 (it was, in fact, Screen Rant’s favorite film).
Oscar nominations or no, there’s little doubt that director Nicolas Winding Refn will go onto bigger and better things as a result. In a recent interview, he talked about the success of Drive, the chances of him making Drive 2 (hint: they’re a whole lot better than zero), remaking Logan’s Run, and being passed over to direct an episode of Doctor Who.
On the success of Drive, courtesy of Short List, Nicolas Refn said:
"I’m just so sick of talking about 'Drive.' […] You’re always happy with the success. But I’ve talked about this movie extensively for more than a year, so that’s it. I don’t know what else I can add [at this point]."
On whether or not Ryan Gosling is Robert De Niro to Refn’s Martin Scorcese, now that they're working on their second and (soon to be) third movies together:
"Well, yeah, it just feels right. Ryan and I are very similar. On 'Drive' I was living with Carey [Mulligan] because she had no place to stay, and Ryan would always come over and hang out. So it was very communal in that sense."
Drive was based on a book by the same name. The sequel to that book, Driven, not to be confused with one of the worst Sylvester Stallone films of all time, is coming out this spring.
On whether or not Refn would be interested in adapting Driven into a live-action sequel to the 2011 Drive, he said:
"Well, I think that... hmm. Let me just say that I haven’t made up my mind yet. Stranger things have happened..."
When Drive initially came out, some ruminated that the ending – SPOILER ALERT – implied that the main character, simply known as ‘the driver,’ was in the process of dying in the final moments of the film.
Not longer after, Nicolas Refn himself came out and essentially put the kibosh on such an interpretation, saying:
"Well, all my films always have open endings. All of them. Because I believe art is always best when…you talk about it and think about it [and] so forth. Maybe once in awhile I’ve gone too far, but I always believe in finding the right balance. And in ‘Drive’ he lives on for more and new adventures."
So it’s obvious that the idea of a sequel has been on Refn’s mind for some time. And who doesn’t want to see Ryan Gosling produce more psychopathic sweat droplets in between acts of terrible, gut-wrenching violence?
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