I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Paul Walker‘s had some kind of career revival with the last two (and upcoming two) Fast and Furious movies, but he’s got to be counting his lucky stars — especially after a mid-career period that turned the guy into a punchline. (Strange to think that he started with Pleasantville and Varsity Blues, then so quickly devolved into the likes of Timeline, Into the Blue, and the fun-but-you-could-not-be-more-asburd-if-you-tried Running Scared.) Coming back to the part of Brian O’Conner (why do I know that name off the top of my head) a couple of years ago has been doing some good.

Expanding his horizons just the tiniest bit, Variety reports that Walker will lead and executive produce Skyscraper, a thriller produced by Fast and the Furious man Neal H. Moritz and his Original Films. Mike Sobel set up the project with Universal some years ago, and an October 2008 story from CinemaBlend lets us know that the Towering Inferno-like story revolves around “a business tycoon who sets out to build a one mile high ‘scraper in Chicago.” When that doesn’t go as planned and the Windy City is put in danger, the denizens “must then save the city from annihilation.”

Furthermore, THR informs us that Walker will get into the narrating game with Air Racers 3D, an IMAX documentary focusing on the Reno National Championship air races held in “Nevada’s Valley of Speed”; ultimately, Air Racers will let people “experience up close the fast-paced air show,” all in an eye-popping third dimension. Christian Fry and Jean-Jacques Mantello directed the project, while the former “wrote” the “screenplay” with Rick Dowlearn.

You can see a trailer below:

Both sound like a break from the usual action fare which Walker‘s been making his name for some fifteen years — Air Racers to a greater degree, obviously — and, though I doubt it’ll shift his career in any way, I’d welcome it. If only because I can’t do the Fast and the Furious thing in any solid way, despite my best efforts.

Are you interested in seeing Walker branch out a bit with these two projects?