Seeing as Act of Valor was constantly, condescendingly referred to as Call of Duty: The Movie, there’s something — dare I say it? — oddly poetic about this next piece of news. Variety informs us that Scott Waugh, co-director of this year’s surprise action hit, has entered talks to helm DreamWorks’ video game adaptation Need for Speed.

First: There’s no confirmation on a plot, but Real Steel scribe John Gatins and his brother, George, developed an idea that was to the studio’s liking, and the latter sibling is now working on a screenplay. What’s more, the tentative, big picture — to the shock of no one who’s read something about modern Hollywood — calls for a franchise in the vein of The Fast and the Furious. (Need 5.)

If there proves to be any conflict here, it’s one steeped (well, treading) in irony — after all, Waugh has attached himself to High Speed, a racing film that his company, Bandito Brothers, will be producing. It’s enough that the title and basic subject matter are wholly similar, but this turn is all the more amusing when you hear it’s to follow “the best high-speed police pursuit drivers in the country, assembled as a unit to stop an elusive, high-end underground racing circuit hellbent on running deadly point-to-point races through major American Cities.” What are the odds Need for Speed‘s plot differs from that to a great (much less noticeable) degree?

Although it’s nice to think he’d stick with his own company in this case, the financial and career benefits of a DreamWorks-backed Need for Speed film is, I’d wager, far too high to pass over. Should he take on the project — and I very much think he will — the combination of that and Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Black Sands could do some big business for both Waugh and Mike McCoy, the Valor co-helmer he’ll reunite with on the latter.

Do you hope to see Waugh tackle a Need for Speed film?