Chuck Russell Revs up Northern Lights

I personally think Chuck Russell (pictured, left) is an underappreciated director of action (blow’em up) movies. He’s done some good ones in the past, including “The Mask” (okay, not really an action movie), “Eraser” (definitely an action movie), and “The Scorpion King” with The Rock. His latest is “Northern Lights”, an action film that revolves around death-defying stunt flying. Russell is currently doing a rewrite on a script by David Ellison and Duane Adler, and plans to direct. The film will be produced by Dean Devlin, he of “Godzilla”, “Stargate”, and “Independence Day” fame.

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“Northern Lights” follows the adventures of three young pilots, each determined to be the best at extreme flying, which encompasses taking their planes to 10 Gs and 300 mph, upside down, 10 feet off the ground.

While macho flying has been part of films from “The Aviator” to “The Right Stuff” and “Top Gun,” Russell said extreme flying offers a visual spectacle he hasn’t seen onscreen.

“We’ll be incorporating real-time, world class aerobatic performances with new visual effects technologies that will put the audience right in the pilot’s seat,” Russell said.

It doesn’t sound too bad, but I hope there’s more. Just a lot of aerial flying, even the death-defying variety, probably won’t be enough to satiate the action junkies out there, and if they don’t come see this thing, who will?

Production on the film is scheduled for the fall in Shreveport, Louisiana.