Hollywood picked the most MAGA crowd in America to announce their woke casting choice.
Randy Quaid saw it happen and went straight to X.
What Quaid said next is the kind of thing Paramount prays nobody with a platform will say out loud – and he said it twice.
Randy Quaid Calls Out the Cast That Will Sink the Sequel
Tom Cruise is returning as Cole Trickle for Days of Thunder 2, set for a June 2028 release.
Anne Hathaway is joining as the lead actress – playing a race team owner and engineer.
Quaid saw that casting and unloaded.
"Anne Hathaway is a leftist, woke, horrible choice for DAYS OF THUNDER NASCAR audience who are MAGA," he posted.
He wasn't done.
"We need Nicole back. Don't be a p—y, Tom Cruise. You need the original girl. It's not personal; it's filmmaking. Anne isn't sexy, because and if you haven't noticed, she's pregnant," he said.
https://twitter.com/RandyRRQuaid/status/2093826026895732848?s=20
A few posts later: "If I were in control of production, a real sequel worth watching for DAYS OF THUNDER would be seeing Tom and Nicole together on screen again. We don't need a new girl; we need a new race car!"
Quaid played team owner Tim Daland in the 1990 original – the guy who built Cole Trickle's racing operation from scratch.
He was not invited back for the sequel.
He noticed.
Hollywood Still Hasn't Figured Out Who Watches NASCAR
Here's what Paramount is missing.
The original Days of Thunder opened at No. 1 at the box office in June 1990, grossed $157.9 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, and turned NASCAR into a mainstream cultural phenomenon.
It worked because Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had real chemistry on screen – real enough that they got married in real life shortly after filming wrapped.
The NASCAR audience drove that success.
And that same NASCAR audience drove to Daytona Saturday night to watch Ryan Preece pull off one of the most improbable wins in recent memory – surviving overtime chaos to steal the final playoff spot after nearly dying at that same track twice before.
These are not the people who put Anne Hathaway on their list of favorites.
Quaid called it: the Days of Thunder audience is MAGA, and they know it.
https://twitter.com/radar_online/status/2094422340150988906?s=20
Paramount announced their sequel at a NASCAR track – on the same night half the field was destroying itself on the backstretch and drivers were dropping F-bombs on the radio.
That is an audience that has opinions.
Randy Quaid is that audience.
The Sequel That Could Already Be Losing Before It Starts
Quaid dropped another line that deserves attention: "This is a weird thing, like they want it to come out and tank."
He's not wrong to be suspicious.
Quaid himself noted that editors slept in shifts to get the original out the door – it was made fast and under pressure.
This one is being announced fast, too, with a 2028 target that gives them roughly two years from announcement to theaters.
Hollywood has a long track record of taking beloved franchises with conservative fan bases and casting them with progressive politics in mind – then being shocked when the audience they ignored doesn't show up.
Days of Thunder was built for people who love NASCAR, America, speed, and Tom Cruise being impossibly good at something.
Anne Hathaway – outspoken liberal, Hollywood darling, currently pregnant – is not the answer to any of those things.
Nicole Kidman is 58 years old and still working at the top of Hollywood.
A Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman reunion on screen in 2028 would be a genuine cultural event.
Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway playing race car politics is a movie people will stream for free eighteen months after it flops.
Randy Quaid has been wrong about a lot of things over the years.
He's not wrong about this.
Sources:
- Zach Dean, "NASCAR Race Includes Half the Field Wrecking, Furious Drivers and Hollywood Actor Ripping a 'Leftist, Woke' Move," OutKick, August 31, 2026.
- "Randy Quaid Calls Anne Hathaway 'Horrible Choice' for Days of Thunder 2," TMZ, August 30, 2026.
- Tim Lammers, "Randy Quaid Slams Casting of 'Woke' Anne Hathaway in Days of Thunder 2," Forbes, August 30, 2026.
- "Randy Quaid Slams Casting of 'Woke' Anne Hathaway in Days of Thunder 2," The Wrap, August 30, 2026.
- Speedway Digest Staff, "Ryan Preece's Daytona Redemption Delivers First Cup Win, Playoff Berth," Speedway Digest, August 30, 2026.
- Days of Thunder (1990 film), Box Office and Production History, Wikipedia.