While historically, it is more common for foreign film-makers to come to Budapest to take advantage of the amazing locations and production expertise, it is also nice when Hungary gets to see one of its own films sent out into the world and achieve enormous success. In the case of Kills on Wheels — in Hungarian Tiszta Szívvel — international recognition began with the Oscars. While it ultimately didn’t make the short-list selection, the film was Hungary’s choice for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film. This heightened profile brought it to the attention of Noah Wylie, the American TV/film star, who was starting up his own production company, Slippery Moon Productions, which bought the rights to remake an American version of writer/director Attila Till’s film. It has been reported the Warner Bros. is also producing. While Till’s original version was a feature length film, Wylie is looking to make an extended series, to take advantage of the increased interest in home entertainment.

Deadline.com summarizes the film’s plot as such: “Set in an assisted living facility, Kills on Wheels tells the story of two young men with disabilities, whose lives are transformed when they are asked to aid a paraplegic assassin in his quest to dismantle the Serbian crime syndicate that betrayed him.” In the same article, Wylie discusses his reasons for taking on the project: “The film had this punk-rock sensibility. I had never seen anything quite like it. The film was cast with actors who had disabilities and I was struck by how all of my sympathies, empathies and touch of pity toward the community was thrown back in my face violently. It revealed to me how little they want that.”

The Hungarian version was notable for its use of physically challenged actors, and not stars who played as such. The film was a hit with the trades: Variety said it is: “An engaging, disability-focused Hungarian dramedy that, despite the crass title, is actually an inventive coming-of-age tale.” Cineoutsider.com praised the acting: “A trio of fine performances and the fact that the odds are theoretically so stacked against them on every job makes it disarmingly easy to bond with the three leads….Back when I reviewed Nimród Antal’s Kontroll in 2005 I saluted modern Eastern European cinema for casting people who really looked like the characters they played, and that statement still stands today.”

Once things normalize in California, not to mention Hungary, we look forward to this international interpretation of a local favorite. Below find the trailer to the original, with English subtitles.

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