\nDavid Ayer follows “Suicide Squad” and “Bright” with a trip back to “Street Kings” and “Harsh Times” territory.
\nAfter big budget critical misfires \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d and \u201cBright,\u201d writer-director David Ayer is returning to his scrappy and bloody crime drama roots in the upcoming \u201cThe Tax Collector.\u201d RLJE Films is releasing the movie in August, two years after Ayer wrapped filming on the movie in summer 2018. \u201cThe Tax Collector\u201d reunites the filmmaker with his \u201cFury\u201d actor Shia LaBeouf, who is coming off a resurgent 2019 thanks to well-received indies \u201cHoney Boy\u201d and \u201cThe Peanut Butter Falcon.\u201d LaBeouf stars in Ayer\u2019s latest opposite Bobby Soto, Cinthya Carmona, and George Lopez.
\nThe official \u201cTax Collector\u201d synopsis from RLJE Films reads: \u201cDavid (Soto) and Creeper (LaBeouf) are \u2018tax collectors\u2019 for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs\u2019 illicit dealings. But when Wizard\u2019s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.\u201d
\nIn an interview with \/Film at the beginning of 2020, Ayer said \u201cThe Tax Collector\u201d would bring his career back to the gritty and hard-hitting atmosphere of earlier directorial efforts such as \u201cStreet Kings\u201d and \u201cHarsh Times.\u201d Ayer also heaped praise on LaBeouf. War drama \u201cFury,\u201d the duo\u2019s last collaboration together, opened in theaters in fall 2014 and grossed $211 million worldwide.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best actors I\u2019ve worked with, and he\u2019s the most committed to body and soul,\u201d Ayer said about LaBeouf. \u201cHe had a tooth pulled on \u2018Fury,\u2019 and then on \u2018Tax Collector\u2019 he got his whole chest tattooed. So he kind of goes all in, and I\u2019ve never known anyone that committed.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Tax Collector\u201d is Ayer\u2019s first directorial effort since his Will Smith-starring Netflix tentpole \u201cBright\u201d in 2017. The director served as an executive producer on two projects that were released in 2020: The Margot Robbie-led \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d (a spinoff of Ayer\u2019s \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d) and the Fox procedural television drama \u201cDeputy.\u201d The network canceled the show after one season.
\nRLJE Films is opening \u201cThe Tax Collector\u201d in theaters, on demand, and on digital platforms August 7. Watch the official trailer for the crime drama in the video below.\n<\/div>\n
\n
Related Videos<\/strong><\/div>\n ![\"\"](\"\/blog_hollywood\/article2055_slide.jpg\")
<\/p>\n