Shot over eight months at nine races in five countries, "Driven" features coverage of real races — including the fastest car chase and racing sequences ever filmed — and utilizes state-of-the-art film technology to simulate the driver's point of view while traveling at speeds in in excess of 240 miles-per-hour. For the first time, a feature film puts the audience in the driver's seat of some of the fastest cars on earth.
As the film's title suggests, the characters that propel the ensemble "Driven" struggle with desires and temptations in an environment where the specter of death intensifies them. "You never get rid of the fear," says Sylvester Stallone, the Academy Award winning screenwriter of the 1976 Best Picture "Rocky." "It's just something you swallow and learn how to use before it uses you. And the fire inside you can dwindle down to a small ember, but if you're allowed a chance to revisit the past and maybe do it right this time, that fire can explode."
In "Driven," former world class driver Joe Tanto (STALLONE) grapples with smoldering memories and emotional scars from a fiery crash that cut short a promising racing career Tanto had let spin out of control. But Tanto gets his shot at redemption when he is called back into action by car team owner Carl Henry (BURT REYNOLDS), a former driver now confined to a wheelchair.
"My character is a former driver who came very close to death and survived." says Reynolds, a former NASCAR owner and the driving force behind the popular "Smokey and the Bandit" films. "This near-death experience empowered him and he is even more determined now as a team owner than he was as a driver. When you face death like that and live, it changes you. You see what is truly important. You learn to respect life and make the most of it."
"Burt brings such vitality and energy to his role," Stallone says of the Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner for his performance in "Boogie Nights." "When I told him about the character. I said, 'Lie's the toughest, strongest, most virile guy in the story, but unfortunately, because of a tragic racing accident, he's confined to a wheelchair. But Carl doesn't feel sorry for himself: as a matter of fact, he's been empowered by the situation."'
Carl has little patience hr his talented but temperamental rookie Jimmy Bly (KIP PARDUE), who must put the brakes on his destructive behavior before is costs him more than he can afford to lose. "Carl sees an opportunity to help his friend Joe while saving his team and a talented young driver," says Reynolds. "He knows if Joe is honest with himself, he'll see the offer for the second chance it is."
"I think I'm there to race again. but Carl's really bringing me back as an example to Jimmy of how not to live his life, because I blew every chance I ever had to be good," Stallone explains. "But maybe if I show Jimmy how to avoid all the pitfalls and all the mistakes I made, then maybe he can salvage something out of his life that I can be proud of."
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