Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have plucked American Gangster from development hell.
The film was originally planned as a job for King Arthur's Antoine Fuqua to direct, with Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro starring in a tale of a ‘70s heroin kingpin who devises a way to smuggle the drug in the coffins of soldiers returning from Vietnam.
Budget worries put that version on ice, but now Imagine producer Brian Grazer has convinced Scott and Crowe to jump aboard, after having Hotel Rwanda writer-director Terry George re-work the script to reduce the cost. Original studio Universal will make a decision this week on whether to finance the film outright or find a company to share the cost.
Scott and Crowe have just finished A Good Year and will likely have to wait until Crowe finishes work on Baz Luhrmann’s next, a historical epic which co-stars Nicole Kidman.