Speed Kills (2018)
Speedboat racing champion and multimillionaire, Don Aronow, leads a double life that lands him in trouble with the law and drug lords.
Genre – Thriller
Executive Producer – Walter Josten, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Rene Besson
Producer(s) – Richard Rionda Del Castro, Luillo Ruiz
Associate Producer – Patrick Josten
Director(s) – John Luessenhop
Writer(s) – Paul Castro, David Aaron Cohen, John Luessenhop Cast – John Travolta, Katheryn Winnick, Jennifer Esposito
Distributor(s) – Saban Films
Release Date – 2018
Synopsis – Speedboat racing champ Don Aronow created the most enduring boat brands in the industry, including Donzi Marine, Blue Thunder and the legendary Cigarette. At his height, Aronow did business with the US Government and drug cartels at the same time, a double life that led to his mysterious murder in 1987. A boat-racing film starring John Travolta, executive-produced by Walter Josten, splashed onto US movie screens and VOD in November 2018. It dramatizes the true story of speedboat racer Don Aronow, and opened November 16th 2018 on movie screens in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Tampa, Spokane, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Orlando.
Filmed summer of 2018 in Puerto Rico, it was directed by Jody Scurfield and written by David Aaron Cohen (Friday Night Lights) and John Leussenhop (Texas Chainsaw 3D).
The film co-stars Matthew Modine, Katheryn Winnick, and Jennifer Esposito.
People credits and awards Writer/director: John Luessenhop: (won Florida Film Fest best short award for Tick, Tick, Tick and another nom for Takers, both of which he wrote and directed; also directed Texas Chainsaw 3D.
Other writers: Davd Aaron Cohen nominated for USC Scripter award for Friday Night Lights; also penned V.I. Warshawski, Live Like Line, Point of View, The Devil’s own and five episodes of 5iveDays to Midnight) and (August Rush and Dixon’s Girl).
Actors: John Travolta (51 wins and 57 nominations [2 Oscar noms] for such works as Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever, Get Shorty, Primary Colors, Hairspray and American Crime Story; 69 other film and TV credits), Katheryn Winnick (2 wins + 7 noms for Vikings, Children of the Air, Cold Souls and Daddy’s Little Girl; also appeared in 50 First Dates, Killers and 53 other projects), Jennifer Esposito (5 wins and 2 noms for Crash and The Looney Tunes Show; also appeared in NCIS, Summer of Sam, Taxi, Don’t Say a Word, The Affair and 55 more film and TV programs), Matthew Modine (9 wins and 10 noms for works including Equinox, Short Cuts, And the Band Played On and Streamers; also appeared in Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises, Memphis Belle, Stranger Things and 95 other projects), Kellan Lutz (4 wins and 5 noms for Money, The Legend of Hercules and the four Twilight Saga films; also appeared in A Warrior’s Heart, The Expendables 3, Extraction, Generation Kill and 33 other projects) and James Remar (2 wins + 9 noms for works such as Dexter, Django Unchained and Gray’s Anatomy; also appeared in Jericho, Sex in the City, The Phantom, Boys on the Side and 127 other films and TV series).
Executive producers: Walter Josten (won Emmy for The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie; produced and/or arranged financing for 140+ projects including Holes, Around the World in 80 Days, Flawless, The Flock, I Could Never Be Your Woman, Driven, The Last Thing He Wanted, Rescue Dawn and more), Rene Besson, Cam Cannon, Anson Downes, Patricia Eberle, Linda Favila, Claiton Fernandes, Vladimir Fernandes, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Farouk Hadef, Robert Jones, Balan Melarkode, Euzebio Munhoz Jr. and Lindsey Roth. Producers: Luillo Ruiz (earned Grammy nom; produced 20 films including currently Ana, Imprisoned and Red Squad), Richard Rionda Del Castro (produced 30 films including Rage, USS Indianapolis, Heist, Ratchet & Clank and Red Squad) and Oscar Generale (produced 10 films including Giallo, Ana, Red Squad and Give ’em Hell, Malone). Cinematographer: Andrzej Sekula (won Fansporto Critics’ award for Cube 2: Hypercube and 4 noms for that film, Pulp Fiction and American Psycho; also shot 33 other films including reservoir Dogs, Four Rooms, Cousin Bette and Oleanna). Costumer: Amy Andrews (won Emmy for John Adams; 3 award noms for Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy; also costumed 41 other show and films including Bull, 200 Cigarettes, The Patriot and Kate & Leopold).
Blue Rider Aids Puerto Rico Fundraising Effort
Blue Rider has joined other film companies in Puerto Rico Film Friends Relief, which has raised money for the hurricane–battered island. Walter Josten and Luillo Ruiz of Pimienta Films have assembled an extended motion picture family via seven major feature films on the island including: REPLICAS starring Keanu Reeves; IMPRISONED with Laurence Fishburne, Juan Pablo Raba, Juana Acosta and Edward James Olmos; SPEED KILLS headlined by John Travolta; ANA featuring Andy Garcia, Dafne Keen, and Jeanne Tripplehorn; DRIVEN with Jason Sudeikis, Lee Pace, Corey Stoll, and Judy Greer, directed by Nick Hamm; PRIMAL with Nicolas Cage, and THE LAST THING HE WANTED with Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willam Dafoe, and Rosie Perez, directed by Dee Reese.
Keanu Reeves, Garcia and Travolta have been especially instrumental in raising funds for Puerto Rico. Six months after the hurricanes, which killed 60 people, 16% of the island, 200,000 homes and businesses,still lack electricity. This is the worst storm to hit Puerto Rico in 89 years.