If it’s one thing Anne Hathaway is going to do, it’s stay booked and busy. It was recently announced that that the Oscar winner will be starring alongside Tom Cruise in a long-awaited sequel to Days of Thunder from Paramount Pictures. This news alone has some conservatives absolutely rattled.
Days of Drama Brewing
While most folks were reasonably excited about the news, a loud minority has emerged primarily disgruntled with the fact that Hathaway is too pregnant, too “woke” and couldn’t possibly be a hot leading lady for that reason. Days of Thunder star Randy Quaid had some choice words about the matter on X/Twitter.
“We need Nicole [Kidman] back. Don’t be a pussy, @TomCruise. 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,” Quaid said on the Elon Musk-owned platform. At first it seemed like he was just a super-intense Nicole Kidman fanboy, misguided in his desire to see “Tom and Nicole together on screen again.”
However, he quickly dashed that notion with a follow-up post ranting about Hathaway being “a leftist, woke, horrible choice” for the sequel that he says is solely for the MAGA audience. While one could argue that NASCAR is for anybody, the reality is that this sport draws a particular crowd, but does that crowd care enough not to see a movie because a liberal is in it? Doubtful. They barely supported most of Sydney Sweeney’s projects last year, so their priorities seem to be elsewhere.
Quaid played Tim Daland, a wealthy race team owner who recruited Cruise’s character, Cole Trickle, into NASCAR. Apparently, he will also reprise his role in the sequel (for now) which makes it even more eyebrow-raising that he is being this vocal about his displeasure with the studio’s decisions. Imagine the absolute unmitigated gall to call one of your bosses (Cruise is producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper) “a pussy,” all because a pregnant, liberal woman got added to your workplace.
Fans Divided on Stars and Timing
Despite Quaid’s nonsensical ravings, Hathaway is a great choice for the sequel, playing a race car team owner and engineer. She’s an incredible actor who can keep up with Cruise and bring more female eyeballs to a story that heavily skews male-focused. She’s currently on a generational run of movie releases this year (“Mother Mary,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The Odyssey,” “The End of Oak Street,” “Verity”), while also being pregnant with her third child. Studios obviously trust her to lead and sell movies, so there’s your answer, Quaid.
Previously, Kidman was the romantic lead opposite Cruise, playing a neurosurgeon. While plot details haven’t been fully revealed, it’s safe to assume Hathaway’s character will be the new apple of Trickle’s eye. Some Kidman fans expressed disappointment that she was seemingly replaced with Hathaway, speculating that Cruise and Kidman’s personal non-relationship was the reason for her absence. Regardless of the reason, it’s not really a good excuse to go off on Hathaway about it.
Some Cruise fans shared a similar sentiment, mostly annoyed because they’re under the impression that they “have to wait” until 2028 due to Hathaway’s pregnancy. It’s pretty normal, however, for studios to announce projects that aren’t going to be released for another 2-3 years; it doesn’t necessarily mean Hathaway’s unborn fetus is to blame. This all has echoes of that old Hathaway hate train that existed years ago.
One Last Thought
This Randy Quaid business is nonsense dressed up as barely valid critique. Either way, Republican men will get angry at women for not being pregnant or existing while pregnant, so we can probably just ignore their public tirades. Hathaway’s political leanings are irrelevant to the conversation. If she was playing Melania Trump in a biopic, then I could maybe see the argument against her involvement, but this is a sequel about racing cars. Car races aren’t political, so honestly, MAGA should follow their own usual advice to leftists: stop bringing politics into everything.
The sequel to Days of Thunder is slated to hit theaters June 2, 2028.
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