Crank co-director is down for Crank 3, but only if it's "exponentially more fucked up"
For those not yet initiated into the cult of Chev Chelios, the Crank series—thus far consisting of 2006's Crank and 2009's Crank: High Voltage—is a series of totally batshit action films with no regard for such petty concerns as “reality” and “the laws of physics.” Jason Statham stars as Chev, a hitman and literal adrenaline junkie who rampages through a cartoonish criminal underworld like some kind of meth-fueled, ultraviolent Bugs Bunny as he tries to figure out who poisoned him with a substance that forces him to keep his adrenaline flowing at all times—or give himself electric shocks, in the case of the sequel—in order to stay alive. Think the John Wick universe by way of Gremlins 2. They’re really, really fun.
And co-director Brian Taylor still has his juices flowing for a sequel, as he tells fellow filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch on the new episode of The Movie Crypt podcast (via Entertainment Weekly). While Taylor came on the podcast to discuss his new movie—the also-crazed Nicolas Cage vehicle Mom And Dad—after a while the talk turned to Crank, and the possibility of shocking Chev back into action once again. After acknowledging that it’s a rather long shot, given that Crank: High Voltage made “$12” at the box office (it actually made $34 million), Taylor says he’d want to up the stakes for a Crank 3—so much so, that he’s turned down pitches because they weren’t fucked up enough for his liking:
My feeling about Crank 3 is that Crank 3 should be as exponentially more fucked up than Crank 2 as Crank 2 was Crank 1. Obviously, there’s been talk here and there but I’ve never really felt that creatively it was fucked up enough to really do. Because the studio will get in contact with us: ‘What do you guys think about this?’ ‘What do you guys think about that?’ And the scenarios are always very tame compared to what I think it should be. …
Obviously, there’s a great movie there somewhere. I don’t know if it’s going to be Jason Statham in a wheelchair, 40 years from now. I think there should be a Crank cinematic universe. Not just one movie. So who knows? There’s nothing in the works right now. But you never know. Me and [co-director Mark Neveldine] are brothers for life.