By Jackie Shannon
Australian actress, Nicole Kidman, her hubby, Keith Urban, and their kids were all over the news last week when they swung by Sydney’s Royal Easter Show to check out the farm animals and show bags. Though the couple claimed that they were solely and briefly in town to visit family over the Easter break, it has been revealed that Kidman was actually here on business too.
Having completed Garth Davis’ feature film, Lion (which is set in India and Australia), and a one-episode spot in the currently in-production US TV series, Big Little Lies, Kidman has surprisingly signed to reprise her role of Judy for a brief cameo in the sequel to the 1983 Aussie cult favourite, BMX Bandits.
The follow-up – tentatively titled BMX Bandits: Second Gear – is a co-production between the original movie’s director, Brian Trenchard-Smith (one of Australia’s finest exploitation filmmakers and a favourite of Quentin Tarantino), and production house, Garage Entertainment, Australia’s number 1 studio for action/sports movies and VOD service.
The sequel will focus on the children of the characters of Judy, P.J and Goose – played by Kidman, Angelo D’Angelo, and James Lugton, respectively – who form their own extreme sports crew in the face of much adversity. As the recent Point Break remake shifted outward from surfing into the broader area of highly adrenalised extreme sports, so BMX Bandits: Second Gear will also include wake boarding, paragliding, wing-suits, and other high energy pursuits, though bikes will remain the principal focus.
“This is a great way to meld a much loved Australian film with something truly contemporary in the form of extreme sports,” says Garage Entertainment owner and producer, Michael Lawrence, the producer of Bra Boys, the AACTA Award-winning Fighting Fear, and Channel 9’s TV series, The Crew. “I can’t wait to reunite with the original film’s cast,” says director, Brian Trenchard-Smith, “and entering into the world of extreme sports opens up a whole new avenue for stunts and action set-pieces.”
Nicole Kidman, meanwhile, is quick to down-play her involvement in the film. “I’m only appearing in one scene,” the in-demand actress says through her Australian agent, Shanahan Management. “It’s not a major role at all. I’m just there to offer a little parental advice. I don’t even get on a bike, and I won’t be returning to the perm that I sported in the original film either!”
Actors are currently being sought for the roles of Jaime, Trigger, and Axl, the three young characters who drive the action in what is sure to be one of 2017’s most exciting local releases.
BMX Bandits: Second Gear will be released in 2017.
NB: April Fool’s!!
