John Travolta is in talks to join Denzel Washington in Tony Scott's planned remake of 1974's The Taking of Pelham 123. The man most recently known onscreen as Edna Turnblad wants to get back in touch with his bad guy side - and he's chosen a doozy of a project to try it on.
Travolta will play the leader of four hijackers of a New York subway train, who threatens to kill the passengers unless a ransom is paid (the Robert Shaw role in the original, although given Travolta's history in bad guy roles, we're guessing he'll be a little kerrrr-aaaaazier).
Denzel Washington is already cast in the Walter Matthau role (let's just pause to savour that sentence for a moment...and we're back) as the "chief detective of security for the subway", which uncatchy job title presumably means it's his job to stop Travolta and his gang of evildoers.
Travolta's an... interesting addition to the cast. While his performance in Hairspray was, against all odds, kinda winning, he could do with a hit role that doesn't come with a female fat suit or a terrible film wrapped around it. And against Denzel Washington? He's going to have to be firing on all cylinders just to avoid being blown off the screen. Still, Scott knows what he's doing - right?
Matthew Modine lookalike and Indy IV screenwriter David Koepp is writing the script. Shooting starts early next year.