Alexa Swinton and David Arquette to Star in Demolition-Derby Drama 'Wreckless,' Kayla Arend's Directorial Debut
Alexa Swinton and David Arquette will lead the cast of Wreckless, an independent demolition-derby drama that marks the feature directing debut of Kayla Arend, Deadline reported on 10 August 2026.
The film is a father-and-daughter story about addiction, grief and recovery, set inside the male-dominated demolition-derby community of rural Minnesota. Swinton plays Joni, a reckless teenager who has learned to live with pain. Arquette plays Larry, her father and a recovering addict. Wyatt Oleff — known to audiences as young Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and a standout in the It horror duology — plays Atlas, Joni's magnetic but troubled boyfriend. Sawyer Spielberg, whose recent credits include the Apple series Masters of the Air and Celine Song's A24 film Materialists, plays Bo, Larry's neighbour and sponsor.
What gives the production its texture is where it is shooting. Cameras are rolling amid the real demolition-derby community of Rochester, Minnesota. Rochester native Mohamed Khalid Mohamed appears as Ahmed, Joni's best friend and co-worker, with other locals also cast — grounding the film in the world it depicts.
Arend wrote the script with Mickey Falcone. She is a graduate of NYU's Graduate Film program, where her thesis film Leaving Yellowstone was executive produced by Spike Lee in 2023. Wreckless carries personal weight for the director, who is the child of a man who battled addiction and has spoken of being "eternally grateful" for the community's support.
Producer Clément Bauer, whose credits include True Spirit and Sitting in Bars with Cake, is producing for Resonate Entertainment alongside Vic Brandt (She's the He). Bauer said he and Arend both grew up in this pocket of Minnesota and knew it was the only place to tell the story. George Hubbard, Teresa Tsai, Timothy Carpenter, John Siff, Inna Swinton and Rolfe Swinton serve as executive producers. The cast was assembled by casting director Barbara J. McCarthy, whose work includes Sovereign and Sitting in Bars with Cake.
Swinton's profile has risen steadily. She is best known for television roles on And Just Like That... and Billions, and her film work spans M. Night Shyamalan's Old, Bradley Cooper's Maestro and Jake Schreier's Marvel film Thunderbolts. She will next appear in Tony Gilroy's Searchlight drama Behemoth!, set in the world of classical music, scheduled for release on 4 December. Arquette's slate is similarly packed — Scarpetta Season 2 for Prime Video, the independent films Wildcard, The Night Driver, The Mess We Made and Killing Hitler, following an appearance in Scream 7.
The film's official website lists a 2027 release window, with Arend credited as writer-director.
For a first-time feature director, the pieces are in place: a cast with name recognition, a producer with a track record, and a setting that doubles as its own production design. The demolition derby — a motorsport in which drivers deliberately ram old cars into one another until only one is still running — gives the story a raw, physical backdrop for a script about damage and repair on the human scale.
