Denzel Washington is this close to starring in Tony Scott‘s upcoming action drama Unstoppable. It’s a “runaway train” story where Washington would play a senior engineer who joins a wet behind the ears conductor to chase the titular locomotive and its toxic cargo. They chase it with a second train… wouldn’t it be easier to fly a helicopter to it a climb down a rope ladder? Probably depends on how they plan on stopping the runaway (ie probably by attaching the trains together then slowing down). Either way the concept doesn’t seem all that exciting, but I do have faith in the Washington/Scott pairing so we’ll have to wait and see. Unstoppable is scheduled to start production this fall.
The duo has already worked together four times since 1995, with two of those films (Crimson Tide, Man On Fire) turning out pretty damn good. Deja Vu is the shitty exception. Their fourth movie is the upcoming remake of The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 which hits theaters this June. John Travolta co-stars but it may still be entertaining.
My only real concern here is what a fall start would mean for David Cronenberg’s The Matarese Circle. Washington is attached alongside Tom Cruise in the big budget thriller based on the Robert Ludlum novel. That’s a movie I’m very excited about, but at this rate it wouldn’t even be able to start production until well into 2010. So Mr. Washington, do you really need two train movies in a row? I think not.
Any train-in-tunnel dreams you’d care to talk about?