Tony Scott has signed on to direct a train-set thriller called Unstoppable, which sounds a little bit like Hollywood has decided to remake Empire’s Touching Cloth… before the original is even made!
The movie will concern an engineer and a conductor on an unmanned train (erm, apart from the two of them, of course) who must join forces to stop their runaway vehicle – which has been thoughtfully stocked to the brim with toxic chemicals – from crashing and burning.
Hmm… that’s not to be confused, of course, with Touching Cloth, in which Pete Postlethwaite would play ‘Lightning’ Rod Halliwell, a conductor on the 8.28 Transpennine Express from York to Liverpool who must stop a group of terrorists, all while he’s busting for the toilet. Of course, there the toxic chemicals would be confined to Postlethwaite’s posterior, but the similarities, we’re sure you’ll agree, are striking.
No matter. We love Scott the Younger and his rock’n’roll directing style, and this sounds like it could be right up his alley (it would also be his second train-related movie in a row, following this summer’s The Taking Of Pelham 123).
Mark Bomback is currently reworking the **Unstoppable **script with a view to going into production later this summer. Scott will also produce, along with Julie Yorn. Fox will pick up the tab.