David Koepp may be best known for his writing gigs - he's the man behind many of Brian De Palma's thrillers as well as Spider-Man and Spielberg's War Of The Worlds - but he's turning his hand to directing again with thriller Premium Rush.
Taking a leaf out of his aliens' book, we sent Empire's news probe snaking into the Koepp basement and made him share some nuggets about his tale of bike courier Willee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who ends up cycling for his life when he picks up a certain package. Think **Collateral **meets Breaking Away.
"I wanted to do a map movie about getting to a certain place at a certain time," says Koepp, "and a bike courier seemed a logical person to do that. Getting that feeling of speed moving through traffic was the whole challenge of the movie."
Koepp's first directorial gig since 2008's Capra-lite romance **Ghost Town **sticks Gordon-Levitt on a racer and unleashes the worst of New York's finest upon him. That would be Michael Shannon. He plays Bobby Monday, the best-named law enforcer since Lorenzo Zoil.
The hero's name has an even stranger genesis. As Koepp tells us, he's named after Road Runner's ACME-bothering nemesis: "Wile E. Coyote is a plucky sort who gets injured a lot and keeps going. But we're not quite that absurd. There are no giant anvils or anything." Look out for a "meep!" or two from Gordon-Levitt's adversaries in the movie's trailer.
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Premium Rush is out on September 14.