Tom Holland and Austin Butler Rev Up for Racing Thriller

Two of the most sought-after young actors working in Hollywood today are teaming up for a new thriller at Amazon MGM Studios. Tom Holland and Austin are set to shift into the next gear with American Speed, a film based on a true story involving race car driving and drug smuggling.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon MGM Studios landed distribution rights to American Speed, which will star Holland and Butler and be produced by Oppenheimer’s Charles Roven via his Atlas Entertainment banner. Written by Dan Wiedenhaupt, the based-on-a-true-story project follows race car-driving trio the Whittington brothers, two of whom got involved in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) scandal that went beyond the racetrack and into the world of money laundering, tax evasion, and drug smuggling. No word on which of the brothers each actor will play, but one might put their money on Holland and Butler playing the more nefarious of the three, since that is likely to entice moviegoers.

In the world of young Hollywood, Holland and Butler are among the top of a crop that includes names such as Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Zendaya, and Anya Taylor-Joy, among others cited as the future of the movie industry by many industry players. Getting Holland and Butler in a project together has the potential to hit on many levels if it’s packaged and promoted right.

Tom Holland & Austin Butler Have Many New Projects Lined Up

Holland has been pretty busy as of late, stacking up roles after taking a bit of time off following Spider-Man: No Way Home and Apple TV+’s The Crowded Room. He has made personal changes, most notably going sober, which led to the creation of his non-alcoholic beer brand, Bero. On the creative side of things, the actor will reportedly begin shooting the fourth Spider-Man MCU film next summer for a July 2026 release, and he’s also co-leading Christopher Nolan’s hush-hush next project with Matt Damon. With other rumored films such as the Fred Astaire biopic and Uncharted 2, Holland seems prepared to start the next phase of his career.

Butler, to his credit, hasn’t been a slouch since he was Oscar-nominated for his turn in Elvis. He’s currently filming the Darren Aronofsky thriller Caught Stealing, and he’s coming off of a rather stellar 2024 himself. The actor had a scene-stealing turn in Dune: Part Two as Feyd-Rautha, and followed that up with the release of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, which was delayed from its 2023 debut before earning a release from Focus Features. Butler also dabbled in TV projects when he portrayed Gale Cleven in the miniseries Masters of the Air, the Apple TV+ war drama that is a companion piece to 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific. Butler is also attached to Ari Aster’s next project, Eddington, a Western that also stars Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Luke Grimes. That film is set to be distributed by A24.