Last week we heard that Fox was slashing the budget of Tony Scott’s runaway train movie, Unstoppable. Now the film runs into more trouble: star Denzel Washington has officially dropped out.
The studio, which has been specializing in terrible mid-range films for the last couple of years, seemed to get antsy about the proposed 107 million dollar budget and wanted it cut to the low 90s. They asked Scott and Washington to take pay cuts, and Denzel tipped his hat at them and said no thanks.
Part of Fox’s antsiness could be that the last time Washington and Scott teamed up on a train movie – this summer’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 – it didn’t earn much money. But it could also be argued that the studio is simply trying new ways to fuck up their own movies.