Elijah Wood Cast In 'Speed... at a Piano'

Elijah Wood - Grand PianoDid you ever think to yourself, what if Keanu Reeves in Speed wasn't on a bus careening through Santa Monica at the behest of a madman but sitting at a piano giving the concert of his life under pain of certain death? No? Well, that's why you, my friend, do not have a movie deal with Elijah Wood in place to star as said pianist. A classical thriller, they'll call it! More on Eugenio Mira's Grand Piano after the jump.

According to THR, Mira's indie thriller trades on a concept as high as it is brilliantly simple:

"The story concerns a once-great concert pianist who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he's about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He's now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife's."

"Think Speed at a piano."

Oh, I'm thinking it. And now that I've thought it, I'm thinking Speed at a number of other locations.

Speed at the post office!
Speed at the dry cleaner!
Speed on a Zamboni!
Speed on a boat! (Oh, wait.)

Grand Piano will be written by Damien Chazelle (Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, The Last Exorcism 2); Rodrigo Cortes, who directed Ryan Reynolds in a box in Buried, along with Buried producer Adrian Guerra, will produce.

Director Mira previously made the genre entries The Birthday and Agnosia and appears in Cortes' Red Lights, but you may also recognize him from this infamous 2010 Fantastic Fest karaoke video in which he, RZA, and future Grand Piano star Wood sing along to the sounds of the Black Eyed Peas. If that's not an auspicious start to a fruitful film collaboration, I don't know what is.

[THR]



Comments

  • Speed on a Zamboni would be the greatest movie ever made. (If it were made by the Crank guys).

    Slightly off topic, how can there be a second Last Exorcism? The previous one was the Last!

  • j'accuse! says:

    May be on a bit of a tangent here, but Jen...I thought Red Lights was basically DOA after the reception it got at Sundance. Is it still a thing?

  • "Hey! YOU! At the piano!! You only have 45 seconds to play ALL of Chopin's MINUTE WALTZ,
    or this auditorium will BLOW UP!"

    Also, consider SPEED at a funeral procession, SPEED at a horse-shoe match, SPEED at the
    Los Angeles offices of the DMV. Nah...still too much action.
    KRIS THE KLINGON

  • John F says:

    Blown Away had an act where a young woman had to type on her office computer or it would blow up and kill her, but every keystroke was saved to memory and when the memory was full it would blow up and kill her. Jeff Bridges defused the bomb (without even going into the Grid)

  • Kris says:

    The storyline can be difficult to imagine. I love playing music on the piano I got from http://www.wamusic.com.au. I can't imagine myself putting my life at risk while enjoying my pastime.