Wheelman takes B-movie action lovers on an uncommonly smooth ride. Make sure you hit 'Pause' if you have to walk away from the Netflix.
Casting also played an important part in Wheelman's believability. Rush said, 'You know, there’s a lot of man’s men kind of throwback Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen-esque kind of actors. Frank was definitely the right guy for this. He’s got the face for it. He’s got the chops for it, and the mannerisms.' Grillo also brought some reality to the role himself; in an interview with Autoweek, he said he grew up with in the Bronx.
'In the beginning, maybe some of them got some success taking shortcuts, but as we get older, the nobility of being a hustler fades, you have to face reality and then you’re stuck. So I know those guys and I know how they think. I know how myopic they can be, and that’s how they approach life and that’s how I approached this guy.' It doesn't hurt that Grillo himself is a professed gearhead, though his garage is full of motorcycles and dirtbikes instead of the movie driver's flashy vintage Porsche 911.In Wheelman, the driver gets into a bit of a mess, leading to him taking on the infamous One Last Job in order to leave the game entirely. In this case he owes a favor to his mob connections, the kind you have to return if you want to go back to a normal life. His ex-wife and he are estranged, but he's trying to connect with his 14-year-old daughter.
Interestingly, the real-life tale most similar to Wheelman's fast-paced, mafia-spurred action comes from a former model and mom who ended up a getaway driver for the mob. Netflix on YouTubeAs NPR reports, Georgia Durante impressed a room of older mafioso by flooring it through traffic to get a man to the hospital after he was shot.
Until she fled from the mob and an abusive marriage. Driving cross-country with her daughter and trying to keep a low profile, she decided to make a living the best way she knew how.
You don't see the face of the driver in car commercials, so Durante hung out on sets, pestering directors for work. They said no. Until they saw her behind the wheel. After that, she had to turn work away, and now makes a successful living as stunt driver.Truth is nearly always stranger than fiction, and while Wheelman might not be based directly on a true story, it's true enough to the art of driving to satisfy fans of the genre.