Now boarding: Brad Pitt and a train full of blood-thirsty assassins in a new blockbuster from the director of “John Wick” and “Deadpool 2.”
The first trailer for “Bullet Train” arrived on Wednesday packed with plenty of action and famous faces, including Sandra Bullock, Bad Bunny, Joey King, Hiroyuki Sanada, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Logan Lerman, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz and Michael Shannon.
Based on the novel “Maria Beetle” by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka, which has since been translated into English, the film follows Pitt as a bucket hat-wearing hitman named Ladybug trying his best to get through what he believes to be a cut-and-dry mission without any bloodshed.
But, of course, nothing goes as planned, as the titular train is packed with fellow trained killers who “soon realize that their various targets are all interrelated, and their assignments quickly spiral out of control,” per Variety.
The trailer gives us a taste of the mayhem in store, as Pitt faces off against a coterie of killers on the high-speed train in a series of stunt-heavy set pieces. Everything goes down at the direction of his handler played by Bullock, taking over the role from Lady Gaga, who exited the project over scheduling conflicts.
And if anybody knows how to construct an action sequence, it’s director David Leitch, a former stunt performer who previously served as Pitt’s stunt double in “Troy,” “Fight Club” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” before helming projects like “Atomic Blonde” and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.”
As for Pitt, he performed “95% of his physical stunts,” according to Greg Rementer, the stunt coordinator on “Bullet Train.”
“He’s like a natural-born athlete. He really got in there,” Rementer told Vulture last year. “Never have I ever done so many huge actors in one feature where all of them excelled at the physical movement of our training. So Brad, Brian, Michael Shannon, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji — who was already a stud in terms of where he comes from with the show ‘Warrior’ — all these actors put out some great action and did a lot of their [own] stuff.”
Pitt can next be seen alongside Bullock in the action comedy “The Lost City,” with the two stars agreeing to a quid pro quo arrangement to appear in each other’s movies.
“Bullet Train” is set to be released in theaters July 15.
Watch the trailer below.