Randy Quaid rips Anne Hathaway as 'horrible' sequel choice: 'You need the original girl'

Randy Quaid, who appeared in the 1990 original Days of Thunder, took to X over the weekend to knock the sequel ’s new direction and push hard for one very specific course correction: bring back Nicole Kidman instead of pairing Tom Cruise with Anne Hathaway .

“We need Nicole back. Don’t be a p****, @TomCruise. ”

Quaid followed that post with another plea to stick with the movie ’s roots.

“You need the original girl. It ’s not personal; it’s filmmaking. ”

In additional posts, Quaid called Hathaway “leftist” and “woke” and argued she doesn’t fit the NASCAR crowd the franchise draws, which he described as largely conservative. He also dredged up the first film ’s famously frantic post-production, saying editors worked around the clock to hit a rushed release date, and suggested the new movie feels similarly hurried.

The original 1990 film — fronted by Cruise and Kidman, with Quaid in the cast — turned stock-car spectacle into a summer-movie event. The sequel is moving forward with a new director, and Hathaway has been tapped as Cruise’s new co-star.

What Cruise and Hathaway have lined up

Both actors already have crowded calendars, with multiple projects in motion alongside the Days of Thunder sequel:

• Tom Cruise — Digger (dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu), set for October 2026 ; Top Gun 3 (early writing at Paramount ); Broadsword (WWII drama with Christopher McQuarrie ); The Gauntlet (reimagining of the 1977 action thriller ); Deeper (supernatural thriller with Doug Liman).
• Anne Hathaway — The End of Oak Street (due this year); Verity (psychological thriller, due this year); Fear Not (true-crime series, due this year); The Princess Diaries 3; Alone at Dawn (military drama); Forever (romantic fantasy ).

Neither Cruise nor Hathaway has commented on Quaid’s posts. No release date has been announced for the sequel.