After taking the option to bail on her Thirteen director, Evan Rachel Wood is now looking to headline 18-Wheel Butterfly, an independent road movie currently under the eye of Michael Polish (Big Sur). Variety bring the news, telling us that Water Bear/Aaron Magnani Productions and Polish Brothers Construction are jumping on board Christian Divine‘s screenplay.

That’s summarized as a ’70s-set “colorful throwback pic set in Texas,” wherein Wood appears as “Rainbeaux, a truck driver who must outrace the law, bounty hunters and a pair of fellow truckers after she is accused of a crime she didn’t commit.” Should “East Bound and Down” have started playing as those words went across your eyes, good; comparisons to Smokey and the Bandit — along with, possibly given its female lead, Thelma and Louise — have already been coming up.

And, well, you could do a whole lot worse than those two, being something of a nice kickoff in and of itself. I also like the idea of Wood doing something a bit more gritty and “fun,” too; she doesn’t really do many projects with which either label could be applied. It already sounds like things are happening in proper order, so, someone, anyone with the right money, make 18-Wheel Butterfly happen.

Has your attention been grabbed by this first announcement?