Randy Quaid, with his usual brand of “slightly unhinged Uncle, drunk at Christmas”, has had plenty to say about the new Days Of Thunder project. Quaid played Tim Daland in the original movie, the owner of the racing team that recruits Cruise’s driver Cole Trickle.
Wading into the fray, he came out on X to push most strongly for the return of one character, and he did it with all the subtlety and nuance of a brick to the head:
“We need Nicole back. Don’t be a p-ssy, [Tom Cruise]. You need the original girl. It’s not personal; it’s filmmaking. Anne isn’t sexy, because and if you haven’t noticed, she’s pregnant. If I were in control of production, a real sequel worth watching for DAYS OF THUNDER would be seeing Tom and Nicole together on screen again. We don’t need a new girl; we need a new race car!”
Randy, Randy, Randy. A moment’s pause before you hit send. Just a brief soupcon of reflection, perhaps? What’s that… you’re not done? Another post? Oh, this is gonna be good…
“Anne Hathaway is a leftist, woke, horrible choice for ‘DAYS OF THUNDER’ NASCAR audience who are MAGA. The sexy older chick for Tom in this film needs to be Nicole. That’s the casting that would sell the idea. It’s interesting because when we made the first one there was also a rush to get it out; editors slept in the cutting room on shifts. This is a weird thing, like they want it to come out and tank.”
It’s fair to say that any chance of a Quaid cameo just evaporated.
It turns out Nicole Kidman, however, could actually return. She starred in the original, fresh from BMX Bandits, as Dr. Claire Lewicki, a neurosurgeon and the love interest of Cruise’s Trickle. It started a long-term relationship between them in real-life that ended shortly after they made Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
Radar Online quotes an industry insider who says that Kidman has been approached to reprise her role in some capacity and Cruise is eager for her to return. The only stumbling block is if Kidman feels she can put herself back in this world or not after all this time:
“It’s a big leap for Nicole to jump onto a bro movie like Days of Thunder 2 for a male director from the Seth Rogen universe of frat boy comedies. Even if she’s just going to do a signature, one-scene cameo, it has to be creatively perfect for her to do it. The ball is in Nicole’s, and only Nicole’s, court.”
Days of Thunder 2 is due for release in June 2028.
