The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Big Rig, an upcoming female-led truck driving film, has found its star. Vanessa Hudgens has signed on to both lead the film and serve as an executive producer.
Big Rig will follow Hudgens as Bertie, a young mother who takes a job driving an eighteen-wheeler when her family becomes desperate for money. Bertie finds herself falling in love with the freedom of the open road. As she begins to adjust to life on the road, Bertie finds it harder and harder to return home to her family. Bertie must choose between this new love and the family who depends on her.
Hudgens is best known for her starring role as Gabriella in Disney’s High School Musical trilogy. She has also appeared in a number of other films like Tick, Tick Boom!, Spring Breakers, Bad Boys For Life, and The Princess Switch series of films on Netflix. Hudgens can next be seen providing her voice in the animated series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas.
Big Rig will be directed by Martha Stephens from a screenplay written by Ryan Binaco. Stephens past directing works include the comedy Land Ho! and the drama To the Stars. Binaco has previously written To Leslie, which premiered this year at the SXSW Film Festival to rave reviews. Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady will be producing Big Rig for BCDF Pictures with Kelsey Law. Hudgens will also be serving as an executive producer.
About the upcoming film, Dal Farra gave a statement saying: “We are delighted to be working with Martha and Vanessa on this upbeat and powerful story of freedom and self-discovery.” David Garrett of Mister Smith Entertainment, who will be handling global sales for the film, added: “This is the kind of heart-warming, funny, sexy story that audiences are craving right now, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have one of the hottest talents in the market in Vanessa Hudgens bringing this to the big screen.”
Big Rig is scheduled to begin filming later this year. Read the full synopsis of the film below:
In Big Rig, Bertie (Hudgens) takes a striking dramatic turn as a young mother who finds her freedom and herself on the open road as a big rig truck driver. Living in a small town in Tennessee, Bertie is strapped for cash and shouldering most of the responsibility as she and her husband Sonny try to make ends meet for their three unruly young kids. Bertie decides to take matters into her own hands by secretly learning how to drive 18-wheelers and soon hits the open road, tearing across the United States. Bertie is thrilled by her newfound sense of adventure and purpose, and her family life is also improving. But as Bertie makes new friends and racks up the miles, she finds her home life harder to return to, and her tried-and-true relationship with Sonny starts to break down. As these two sides of her life compete for her attention, Bertie must decide where her heart really lies.
There is currently no release date or window for Big Rig