Summit Entertainment hosted a Comic-Con panel today for director Patrick Lussier’s (My Bloody Valentine 3-D) supernatural road-rager Drive Angry 3-D. Joining Lussier on the stage were actors Nicholas Cage, William Fichtner, and blonde babe Amber Heard.

Drive Angry follows Milton (Cage), a damned soul, as he escapes hell to embark on a quest to run down the cult that murdered his daughter and abducted his grandchild for sacrifice. On the run from the police and Satan’s own bounty hunter (Fichtner), Milton is aided on his revenge mission by lost-soul waitress Piper (Heard).

The film, which was shot with 3-D cams (no post conversion here), wrapped two months ago and marks Cage’s first foray into the format, which the actor welcomed as an opportunity to amp up his physical performance.

Said Cage:

How could I mess with the camera. What moves could I do that would go into the 4th row of the audience? That’s what I was trying to see.

Lussier told Comic-Con attendees that the film was inspired by action films of the ’60s and ’70s including Bullitt and Vanishing Point. The director also revealed that the title was taken from a line of dialogue in the highly overrated 1993 Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day.

I'm still a prickly pear!

Drive Angry 3-D costars Billy Burke (Twilight Saga), David Morse (Disturbia), Charlotte Ross (“NYPD Blue”), Katy Mixon (The Quiet), Bryan Massey (Boggy Creek), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Captivity), Wanetah Walmsley (Vampires Suck), and Playboy model Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams).

Look for it in theaters on Feb 11, 2011.

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