Ed Helms and Ben Foster Join Jay Baruchel to Rev Up The Stunt Driver, a High-Octane Comedy About Canada’s Legendary Daredevil

Jay Baruchel is suiting up for another wild one with his 'Goon' director Michael Dowse. Their new project, 'The Stunt Driver', has quietly rolled cameras, and the cast is now locked. If high-speed chaos, true-story obsession, and a maybe-dumb-maybe-genius rocket car jump sound like your thing, you are very much in luck.

What is it?

'The Stunt Driver' is a comedy/drama based on Canadian daredevil Ken Carter, better known as the 'Mad Canadian'. In the 1970s, Carter set his sights on jumping the Saint Lawrence River in a rocket-powered car. This was supposed to be his big finale after three decades of punishing stunts: one giant leap, one fat payday, and the fame to go with it. He hired a heavyweight manager, brought in top-tier rocket car brainpower, and even had the National Film Board of Canada documenting the whole run-up. The twist: from most angles, the jump looked... not particularly doable. That tension is the movie.

The players

• Jay Baruchel as Ken Carter, the daredevil with the river-sized dream
• Ben Foster ('Hell or High Water') as Evel Knievel; yes, that Evel Knievel — and yes, the Damien Chazelle-directed Knievel movie is reportedly on pause
• Ed Helms ('The Office') as Dick Keller, the sharp engineer tasked with building the rocket car and basically serving as the adult in the room on safety
• Laurence Leboeuf ('Transplant') as Gloria, Carter's girlfriend
• Dan Bakkedahl ('Veep') as Carter's manager
• Joe Cobden ('The Sinner') and Marc Beaupré ('Hunting Daze') rounding out the ensemble

Behind the wheel

Dowse is writing and directing, reuniting with Baruchel after 'Goon'. The movie is now in production, and according to Deadline, the team feels pretty good about what they are building. Dowse even shouted out the stunt's sanity-check guy and the guy playing Knievel:

"Ken Carter's story speaks to anyone who has dreamed the impossible. Ed brings great depth and heart to the man in charge of safety for this massive jump, an island of reason in a sea of insanity. Not only does Ben have an uncanny resemblance to Evel, but the gravitas this real-life showman deserves. I'm thrilled to be working with the entire ensemble."

Why this is interesting

Foster as Knievel is a clever bit of casting, especially with the big standalone Knievel movie stuck in neutral. And Helms stepping in as the practical, engineering-minded counterweight to Carter's tunnel vision feels like the right kind of friction for a movie that needs both laughs and consequences. The real story also comes with built-in irony: Carter is hell-bent on finishing a feat that, to most observers, looks impossible on its face. That mix of ambition, denial, and spectacle is exactly where Dowse thrives.

Bottom line: this is a true-story rocket car movie from the 'Goon' team with Ben Foster as Evel Knievel. I get why they said yes.