Carey Mulligan gears up for thriller 'Drive'

LOS ANGELES  – British actress Carey Mulligan ("An Education") is in negotiations to climb into the passenger seat of the action thriller "Drive," which already has Ryan Gosling at the wheel. "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston is also negotiating to join the cast.

The Universal project, based on the James Sallis novel, follows a nameless Hollywood stuntman (Gosling) who moonlights as a freelance getaway driver during robberies. When a bank heist goes wrong, he ends up on the run with a contract on his head and an ex-con's girlfriend (Mulligan) in his car.

Nicolas Winding Refn ("Bronson") is directing; shooting starts around Los Angeles next month. The filmmakers held an open casting call last Saturday looking for Hispanic performers to play tough inner-city L.A. characters.

Mulligan, who earned an Oscar nomination for "Education," next stars in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," which Fox will release September 24, and "Never Let Me Go," which will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival ahead of its theatrical release through Fox Searchlight on September 15.

Cranston has won back-to-back Emmys for his work on AMC's "Breaking Bad" and is up for a third on August 29. He is currently in production on the Michael Connelly adaptation "The Lincoln Lawyer," and he recently wrapped shooting on Tom Hanks' "Larry Crowne" and Andrew Stanton's "John Carter of Mars."