Anne Hathaway a ‘horrible choice’ for Days of Thunder remake, says original star
Anne Hathaway a ‘horrible choice’ for Days of Thunder remake, says original star
Iona CleaveMon, August 31, 2026 at 5:35 PM UTC
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Anne Hathaway at the premiere of The Odyssey in New York in July
Anne Hathaway is “leftist”, “woke” and a “horrible choice” to star in the Days of Thunder sequel, according to one of its original stars.
It was announced last week that the Devil Wears Prada star, 43, will join Tom Cruise, 64, in the second instalment of the 1990 racing drama.
In a deeply critical rant on social media, Randy Quaid, Cruise’s former co-star, called Hathaway a “terrible choice” and argued she “isn’t sexy” enough to play the female lead.
“We need Nicole [Kidman] back,” Quaid wrote on X on Saturday. “Don’t be a p---y, [Tom Cruise]. You need the original girl. It’s not personal; it’s filmmaking. Anne isn’t sexy, because and if you haven’t noticed, she’s pregnant.”
Nicole Kidman, who was in the original 1990 film Days of Thunder. - Ronald Grant Archive
Quaid, 75, added in another post: “Anne Hathaway is a leftist, woke, horrible choice for ‘DAYS OF THUNDER’ NASCAR audience who are MAGA. The sexy older chick for Tom in this film needs to be Nicole. That’s the casting that would sell the idea.”
The Oscar winner recently starred in Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of the Odyssey. Ahead of its release, conservative commentators have mocked her for an eight-year-old speech in which she criticised social and racial hierarchies.
Receiving HRC’s National Equality Award in 2018, Hathaway denounced the myth that “gayness orbits around straightness, transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness”.
The clip was resurfaced by Maga figures online and criticised for being “woke propaganda”. Elon Musk – who objected to the diverse casting choices in the Odyssey – wrote: “She’s just reading the script someone else wrote. No critical thinking is happening here at all.”
In the original Days of Thunder, Quaid played Tim Daland, the owner of the NASCAR racing team that recruits rookie driver Cole Trickle, played by Cruise.
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Randy Quaid, who has courted controversy since a string of court cases, in 2024 - Erika Goldring
Quaid’s career collapsed in 2009, when he and his wife Evi were arrested over an unpaid hotel bill in Santa Barbara, and again in 2010 on burglary charges for allegedly squatting in the guesthouse of a home they once owned.
After missing court dates, the couple fled to Canada, claiming they were being hunted by “Hollywood star whackers”, a shadowy group they said had murdered other celebrities.
Nicole Kidman played a neurosurgeon who becomes his love interest. The two actors met for the first time on set and were married for 11 years.
More than 35 years after Days of Thunder was released, Cruise on Saturday confirmed Hathaway would be his co-star by filming a video of the pair posing against a NASCAR race car in Daytona.
Tom Cruise in the original Days of Thunder - Kobal Collection
Cruise – who is a producer on the film – will return as Cole Trickle, while Hathaway is expected to play a team owner and engineer.
Hathaway, who is pregnant with her third child, confirmed in the video that she will give birth before filming starts.
Paramount Pictures has slated Days of Thunder 2 for a June 2028 release.
It is unclear whether Quaid was ever asked to reprise his role. Before his social media rant, he posted a video of himself driving and claimed: “Tom Cruise just called me. We’re making Days of Thunder 2!”
There has been no official indication from Paramount or the film’s producers that he will be involved in the follow-up.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
