denzel washington Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We get to see celeb's opinions on Twitter, even if movie studios are trying to squelch that, we're treated to Katharine Heigl getting frank every so-many months, and now we've got the world according to Pinchot. Bronson Pinchot. The A.V. Club talked with the actor about his newly released (on DVD) film Mr. Art Critic, and after the briefest chatter about the new film, A.V. got Pinchot talking about his whole career -- very candidly. Not the "Oh gee, they were swell to work with" crap, but behind-the-scenes word on Tom Cruise homophobia, Denzel Washington's meanness, Eddie Murphy's depression, Bette Midler's diva ways, and some praise for the likes of Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Mischa Barton.

Kicking it off is The Cruise, who seems to have been busy with his weird ways for years. Back when Risky Business was being filmed, it seemed he couldn't stop adding gayness into everything, from the confusing: "You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?" to the more decipherable "It's a nice day, I'm glad there are no gay people standing here." As for the others, it seems Denzel gets the harshest words: "He was so vile," while Midler was "such a bitch" to director Hugh Wilson during The First Wives Club. On the nicer end of things, Scorsese gave Pinchot some of his best professional advice, Tarantino dug his "cackle of joy" in True Romance, and Barton revealed her body issues to Pinchot to help get her crying for Finding t.A.T.u: "She was a very sweet kid, actually. Rather brave in a way."

It looks like Tony Scott's train thriller Unstoppable is living up to its title, and is back on the rails. The film was facing a delay thanks to Fox being leery of financing it, and its leading man, Denzel Washington, was reportedly set to disembark the project.

But according to Variety, Washington is back on board, as is Chris Pine, but it takes more than two guys to get a train back on track. Sometimes you need the help of a fierce woman, and so Rosario Dawson has come on board. (I wonder just how many "nice caboose" jokes are going to be made by the male writers of the moviesphere. Or maybe I made the only one. Ahem.)

The film has Washington playing a veteran engineer who jumps on board a runaway train in order to help its young conductor (Pine) try to stop it. Naturally, it's stocked with toxic cargo, and is headed straight for a major city. It's not clear what part Dawson will play, but one would hope that she isn't a mere love interest. This is a film that's a race against the clock after all, and something tells me there's not a lot of time for kissing and toplessness when you're trying to prevent a train from poisoning a city. But then again, lots of grindhouse films achieved that, so who knows. We'll find out when Unstoppable begins filming this fall, with all aboard.

I was just looking over the current release list and came upon two movies that seem to have been pretty much forgotten already, Ron Howard's Angels & Demons (247 screens) and Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (383 screens). The first one is a sequel and the second one is a remake. The first one is absolutely terrible, earning a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the second one is merely mediocre, earning a 52% rating. But what's truly astonishing is that Angels & Demons is a box office smash, with $133 million to its name, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 has earned less than half that, with $64 million.

Let's look at little closer at this. These are two of the summer's only movies that may have been aimed a little above the heads of young boys. All three of the name-above-the-title stars, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and John Travolta, are in their 50s. This ostensibly means that the studios wanted to entice older audiences out of their comfortable homes and into theaters. But unfortunately, if you're a fifty-something and you go out to see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, what's the first thing you get? You get one of Tony Scott's quick-cut, jumpy, razzle-dazzle openings with Jay-Z boasting "I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one." Not to mention the rest of the breakneck movie, which practically reaches out from the screen and slaps you in the face.

Our own Todd Gilchrist already gave you some deets on the Warner Bros. panel, where the studio showed off a whopping six upcoming films, including Sherlock Holmes, Jonah Hex, Nightmare on Elm Street, Where the Wild Things Are, The Box and The Book of Eli. Right before the panel, however, Cinematical squeezed itself into the TV press line in an attempt to snag the folks in and behind these movies so that we could ask them a question or two. Cinematical's Elisabeth Rappe joins our trusty Comic Con cameraman Chris Glenn as both attack the line with a vengeance.

After the jump:
-- Josh Brolin talks about a potential Jonah Hex sequel
-- Jackie Earle Haley talks about experiencing another Comic Con
-- Mila Kunis and Gary Oldman argue over their favorite super powers
-- Robert Rodriguez talks about all the different films he's working on
-- Denzel Washington laughs off any idea that he's got a little geek stuck inside him

Note: Cinematical shared the Brolin and Washington interviews with Frosty from Collider.

UPDATE: Wait a second -- now it looks like Denzel is considering another offer, and will take a look at the latest draft of the script. So this one still has a pulse ... stay tuned for further details.

For a project that's titled Unstoppable, Tony Scott's potentially upcoming flick seems to be anything but. When Chris Pine signed on back in June, I noted how it was delayed for a few years. Then Elisabeth followed up with news that budget snags were delaying the project, and that not even Scott himself was officially signed on. Now Variety adds another nail to the coffin, reporting that Denzel Washington has left the project. He doesn't want to wait around, and is now looking for other projects to fill his fall schedule.

One would think that losing the high-ranking star could hurt the film, but perhaps this could also be a kick-start. Sure, the star-power is gone, but Variety notes that Fox wanted Washington to take a $4 million pay cut and grab a $16 million paycheck for the film. He declined. Could it be that hard to find a bankable star willing to earn merely 16 mil? I'd think not. Besides... Pelham was not a stellar achievement, and it didn't pull in the cash that was expected, and this is really too much like the subway flick. So why not scrap it once and for all or get fresh, cheaper blood?

Similar to Pelham, Unstoppable focuses on a runaway train full of toxic chemicals. So who just grab the engineer gig now?

A mere week after Sony canned Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball, another big-budget film may have bitten the dust. Fox is putting the breaks on Tony Scott's next project, Unstoppable, over budget concerns, and may can the project altogether.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film was set to begin shooting in fall, and Denzel Washington and Chris Pine were attached to play the leads. But none of the acting deals have been officially closed, and not even Scott is definitively signed to the project. Fox is growing more and more concerned about the cost of production on the thriller, which would be quite high -- after all, it centers around a runaway train loaded with toxic chemicals, and it's being stopped by the $20 million dollar Denzel Washington. While the film isn't in as much production peril as Moneyball, its budget is definitely a roadblock, and fat will have to be trimmed somewhere. Maybe they can make a smaller train, or just have it be an unstoppable semi-truck, or maybe some of the A-Listers can take a pay cut ... something like that.

This summer has seen a lot of big-budget films falter at the box office, so studio hesitations are understandable, and budget trimming has been a long time coming. Though I do love a good action flick, I'm neither here nor there about the plot of Unstoppable, but it would be a shame for Pine to lose his next big role, and kill his Captain Kirk Buzz. So let's hope they figure out how to cut some corners.

With Hollywood's neverending desire to milk every story and success for all its worth, it's easy to assume that no one is impervious from part 2, 3, 4, 10 -- especially A-listers. Part of the reason for their success is starring in successful films, and the better a movie does, the better the chance we'll get at least one sequel. But did you know that some of the biggies have only stuck to numero uno?

Movieline has a great post up about the A-listers who have headed for sequel land, and those that have stayed blissfully away -- and they're not necessarily the actors you'd guess. Some are easy: Brad Pitt and Clooney had those Ocean's films (and does it count that Clooney once got some tomato revenge?). Ben Stiller is all about the sequels. Clint Eastwood got dirty for Harry in 5 films.

But who hasn't return for a part 2? I'll give you one: Denzel Washington. However, the site does point out that the actor is set for an Inside Man follow-up, so his status could change. But can you guess the others? There are 3 actors and 1 actress. Make your guesses below and then head over to Movieline to see if you're right. One of those names will probably be quite a surprise until you think about it. And, is there any sequel-free A-lister they missed?

"How the hell can you run a goddamn railroad without swearing?"
-The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

"I got 99 problems, and a bitch ain't one."
-The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

About as loud as Joseph Sargent's original was lean, Tony Scott's take on The Taking of Pelham 123 is more indebted to his name than its own, all restless shots and relentless cuts, ticking clocks and roving maps, a stream of shouting and shooting and speed-ramping and slow-motion and all that jazz. The conversations are cranked up, and the confrontations are amped up, but to what end? Scott whips out the familiar frame-blurring techniques that have ostensibly served him well in the past, but his flair tends to instead rob a crackerjack crime thriller of an inherent momentum that has served it quite well over the span of almost four decades.

There are those actors who somehow manage to raise the 'quality quotient' of any film that they are in -- and Denzel Washington is one of those actors. Whether he can keep that streak alive when The Taking of Pelham 123 opens on Friday remains to be seen, but today for Scenes We Love, I decided to throw a little love towards Washington for his performance in Antoine Fuqua's Training Day. Now just for starters; I have to say that it's not a great film...corny and satisfying? Yes, but great? Not quite. So how did Washington win an Oscar for his role as the corrupt LAPD officer, Alonzo Harris? Well, I think he earned it by taking a role in a paint-by-numbers cop thriller and turning it into an Oscar-worthy performance.

Everyone loves to see the bad guy get their comeuppance, and that's exactly what the final scenes of Training Day deliver. But in this scene, as Washington's dirty cop watches it all slip away, you can see it register on his face as all that power and respect circles the drain. In the hands of a lesser actor, this scene could have just been a cheap thrill of watching the bad guy get what he deserves, but to Washington's credit, he creates a very real moment where 'The Player' finally realizes he has lost the game.

Video and Training Day Fun Facts after the jump...

For a while it looked like Unstoppable was, indeed, stoppable. Martin Campbell was prepping the project in 2007, and then the project slipped into the void of development hell. But now the train is back on track, Tony Scott is leading the rush, and he's grabbed Denzel Washington and Captain James T. Kirk.

While chatting with Washington, MTV learned about Chris Pine's involvement in the upcoming action film, and just how this feature is going to shape up: "I'm going to shoot a movie in the fall called Unstoppable -- me and Tony Scott -- and Chris Pine's going to do it with us. I hope I'm not speaking out of line. I think they made a deal with him, and I'm supposed to meet him next week."

Scott has described the project as "Speed on steroids," so this should be fun, popcorn action fare. Based on an actual event, the film will focus on an engineer who teams up with a young train conductor (we presume Pine) to stop a runaway train full of toxic chemicals. Since the story has some truth to it, Scott plans to shoot it like a documentary, a la Touching the Void.

Personally, I kinda wish it was Silver Steak on steroids, but Chris Pine is no Gene Wilder, and Denzel Washington is no Richard Pryor.