Randy Quaid has criticised Anne Hathaway’s casting in the forthcoming Days of Thunder sequel, calling her a “leftist, woke, horrible choice” for the film’s NASCAR audience.
The 75-year-old actor, who played team owner Tim Daland in the original 1990 film, made the remarks on X on Saturday after it was announced that Hathaway would star opposite Tom Cruise in the follow-up.
Quaid also called on Cruise to bring back Nicole Kidman, who played Dr Claire Lewicki in the first film. “We need Nicole [Kidman] back,” he wrote, adding: “You need the original girl.”
Paramount Pictures has scheduled the sequel for release on 2 June 2028. Cruise will return as racing driver Cole Trickle, while Hathaway is expected to play a team owner and engineer.
The film will be directed by Jonathan Levine, with Cruise producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper. It is due to be made for Imax and released exclusively in cinemas.
Quaid’s comments came shortly after Cruise and Hathaway announced the project in a social media video filmed at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. The sequel will arrive almost four decades after the original, which also starred Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes and John C Reilly.
