NatalieMartinez Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Medical science tells us that there's a portion of the brain called the R-complex that, nestled low and close to the spinal cord, governs simple, automatic brain functions like respiration and reflex and heart rate; other outlying, larger brain structures cover language, culture, memory and art. I mention this because Death Race, writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's re-visitation of the 1975 trash-classic Death Race 2000, is wholly, entirely and perfectly designed to appeal to the R-complex portion of your brain. Death Race roars, rages and races down the track, all velocity and visceral violence, unencumbered by logic, sense, reason or dignity. My more evolved brain structures kept objecting to Death Race's more ludicrous contortions as it whipped around its curves, but my R-complex didn't want to hear the high-pitched whining voice of logic and reason; it simply grunted, settled into a soft cushion of popcorn topping and said "Shut up, bigger brain; bald man who talk cool killing now."

There's nothing like mowing over some pedestrians to get the blood pumping. Way back in 1975, Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine starred in Death Race 2000, a B-movie where drivers ran over people for points. While many never saw and have no idea about the film, I think we've all talked about accruing points by hitting random things with cars. It would've been cool to re-visit the story for the actual year, but a few more have passed and we're now getting the sequel -- Death Race. As we've told you -- Paul W.S. Anderson is writing and directing the film, Jason Statham is starring and Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane and Joan Allen of all people have also signed on to the cast. What else is there? A love interest, of course.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Natalie Martinez, a relative unknown who has only modeled for J-Lo's clothing line and done a slew of episodes over the last few years on TV's Fashion House and Saints & Sinners, is negotiating to co-star. This incarnation sees a future where prison inmates in America are forced to complete in death races. (This is reminding me of that one Angel episode...) Statham only has a few weeks left on his sentence when he's got to take the wheel. Martinez would play a gal named Case, who is his navigator and helps him plan a prison escape. I'm guessing he'd rather escape than plow down people, otherwise the dude is quite dense to try and escape right before he'd be legally released. And it's definitely a good cast for Martinez to hop onto. Where will the Death Race take her?