Randy Quaid used a string of posts on X over the weekend to attack Anne Hathaway’s casting in “Days of Thunder 2,” calling the pregnant Oscar winner a “leftist, woke, horrible choice” and urging Tom Cruise to bring back Nicole Kidman instead.
Paramount confirmed the sequel Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, where Cruise appeared with Hathaway to tease the follow-up to the 1990 racing drama. Quaid, who played team owner Tim Daland in the original film, responded within hours, telling Cruise not to “be a pussy” and insisting fans needed “the original girl.” He argued Hathaway “isn’t sexy” because she is expecting her third child, then followed with a longer post claiming the film’s NASCAR fan base leans MAGA and would reject her.
Quaid pressed his case further, floating a scenario where Cruise’s character reunites onscreen with Kidman, his former wife and the romantic lead of the 1990 movie. “We don’t need a new girl; we need a new race car,” he wrote, adding that Hathaway’s casting felt rushed in the same way the original production scrambled to finish editing on tight shifts.
Replies piled up fast, with commenters defending Hathaway’s talent and pushing back on Quaid’s characterization of pregnancy as disqualifying for the role. Several pointed out that the sequel’s box office prospects depend heavily on international audiences, where Quaid’s political framing carries little weight. Others questioned whether the part, described as a race team owner and engineer, was ever written as a romantic lead at all.
Cruise will reprise driver Cole Trickle, with Hathaway set to play the new team owner opposite him. Representatives for Paramount and Hathaway did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The studio has scheduled “Days of Thunder 2” for a June 2, 2028 theatrical release, shot for Imax and arriving nearly four decades after Tony Scott’s original paired Cruise with Kidman, Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes and Quaid himself.
