Paramount Pictures has beaten rival bidders for High Side, a motocross-driven heist thriller that will reunite Timothée Chalamet with director James Mangold, fresh off their eight-Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. The studio secured the package after a short but intense auction that drew multiple majors, signaling strong confidence in the project’s commercial appeal.
Based on an unpublished short story by Jaime Oliveira, the film follows Billy, an ex-MotoGP prodigy whose career-ending crash and fractured family history leave him vulnerable when his fugitive brother recruits him for a string of bank robberies executed on superbikes. Chernin Entertainment is producing, while management outfit Sugar23 shopped the pitch across Hollywood and to publishers, generating parallel interest in a literary deal.
Paramount motion-picture co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein praised the script as “bold, original storytelling we’re committed to championing” in a statement released after the deal closed. Insiders liken the tone to Heat crossed with Hell or High Water, blending high-speed action with character-driven stakes.
For Chalamet, now filming Dune: Part Three and awaiting A24’s holiday release of Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, High Side represents his first full-scale dive into an action vehicle. Mangold, meanwhile, is juggling pre-production on Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, yet industry observers note his proven skill with kinetic set pieces in films such as Ford v Ferrari positions him well for the fast-wheel robbery narrative.
Plot details circulated to buyers outline an FBI agent named Lennox closing in as Billy and his crew escalate toward a climactic parade-day score, promising practical motor-stunt spectacle and sibling drama in equal measure.
Casting beyond Chalamet has not been announced, and no production start or release date has been set; sources note Mangold will likely move forward once Chalamet’s schedule clears. Until then, the pairing of an in-demand star with a director celebrated for grounded action has already made High Side one of the most talked-about scripts of the late-summer marketplace.
