Fast and Loose has found a new director. The upcoming Will Smith movie, which has a script by Dave Callaham, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Eric Pearson, will star the Oscar winner as a man who finds himself in Tijuana with amnesia, where he must untangle the threads of his double life as a CIA agent and a crime boss.
The Netflix action movie has already had a long road to the screen. Development on Fast and Loose was previously cancelled in 2022 following the infamous televised moment where Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.
However, once the project was resurrected, original director Michael Bay (who had previously directed Smith in Bad Boys and Bad Boys II) departed in August amid reported creative differences with Smith. Allegedly, Smith wanted the project to lean more toward comedy while Bay wanted to focus on action.
Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Fast and Loose will now be directed by John Swab. Swab was chosen after a series of meetings with prospective directors during an intense push to keep the production on schedule and avoid losing Will Smith to other projects. Reportedly, Swab “blew away not only the studio execs but the star of the film as well.”
What This Means For Fast And Loose
John Swab is an up-and-coming filmmaker who has written and directed a number of features before taking on Fast and Loose. This includes multiple тιтles featuring The Purge: Election Year star Frank Grillo, such as the 2021 neo-Western Ida Red, the 2023 thriller Little Dixie, and the 2024 crime drama Long Gone Heroes.
His most prominent movie to date is his 2024 breakthrough King Ivory, which is coming to theaters later this year after making a splash during its world premiere at 2024’s Venice International Film Festival. The crime thriller, which focuses on a variety of people involved in and affected by fentanyl trafficking, stars Ben Foster, James Badge Dale, and Melissa Leo.
Swab has worked with a number of other major stars in the past, including Andy Garcia, Mekhi Phifer, J. K. Simmons, Josh Hutcherson, Josh Hartnett and the late Graham Greene. However, Fast and Loose will mark the biggest movie that he has helmed by far.
Our Take On The Fast And Loose Announcement
While Swab is a relatively untested director in terms of helming big-budget star vehicles like Fast and Loose, his filmography would seem to explain why he made such an impression on Will Smith and the team behind the Netflix action movie. He clearly has an affinity for the action, crime, and comedy genres, which could make him a perfect fit.
