By Terry Terrones Published Jul 23, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Interview "Everyone was up for that challenge," Potsy Ponciroli tells Polygon
Image: IFC After spending nearly two decades in development, Motor City has finally reached the big screen. Starring Alan Ritchson as an ex-Army Ranger seeking revenge after being framed and sent to prison, the film tells much of its story with little dialogue, relying instead on physical performances, visual storytelling, and a soundtrack of classic rock needle drops that become as important as the characters themselves.
Polygon spoke with director Potsy Ponciroli about finally landing the long-gestating project, collaborating with Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, and Ben Foster, building key sequences around songs like "Nights in White Satin" and "The Chain," and why sometimes the best direction an actor can receive is, "The first person to speak usually loses." (We also snuck in a question about his involvement in a planned Goonies sequel.)
Check out the full interview, edited for brevity and clarity, below.
Polygon: Motor City spent nearly two decades in development before finally making it to the screen. How did the project find its way to you?
Potsy Ponciroli: This one came to me through my agent. You get sent scripts all the time, and this one really stuck with me because it's so unique and such a cool story. Chad St. John [screenwriter of Peppermint and London Has Fallen ] wrote it so well. There'd been a lot of directors and actors attached over the years who'd fallen off, or the funding didn't come through.
When I got it, I pitched on it and got a second pitch, which is always good. Then it came down to me and another director. We went back and forth with the producers, and at the end it went to the other director, but it stuck with me.
I didn't want anything to be pantomime. We're not overexaggerating movements to sell anything.
Seven or eight months later, I got a call from my agent. He said, "Hey, that movie Motor City , the director just fell off." I was like, "Oh, shit." I called Jon Berg, the producer, and said, "I sat with this thing for seven months now. Let me pitch again." He said, "I'd love it."
So I pitched him and (producer) Greg Silverman, and it was the best pitch of my life because I'd had all that time to prepare. They wanted me to meet with Alan [Ritchson]. He was already on board, so I drove home early from vacation, did the Zoom with Alan, they did my deal over the weekend, and I started work on Monday. It was a really quick way in after that, but it was great to see it come back around and have a shot at it.
Image: IFC With so little dialogue, how did you work with the cast to communicate so much through body language, facial expressions, and silence?
I didn't want anything to be pantomime. We're not overexaggerating movements to sell anything. It still has to be subtle and real.
It's kind of the way I approach all my projects. It's a billion conversations beforehand. We really dig into who the character is.
With Shailene [Woodley], she was like, "What's my playlist?" I was like, "Oh, let's find your playlist." Then we took that onto every other character and was like, "How do we really define this person before we even get into it?"
We created a Spotify playlist, and we'd put songs on there, go through it, add songs, and figure out who her character is and what she listens to. It helped her get into, "This is what I would listen to in the afternoon writing in a journ…