Remember the story of the movie American Gangster and how it’s main stars Denzel Washington and Benecio Del Toro were in a pay deal. So even though the movie collapsed they got paid. Why did it collapse? Well according to IMDB it was due to financial restrictions.
So they couldn’t get enough money, the film collapsed and the two huge main stars got paid for being signed up for a few days. That makes great financial sense.
However, it looks like there’s a chance it could be back on, this time with Don Cheadle taking the lead Washington role.
Don Cheadle may have given controversial movie American Gangster a new lease of life after the project was halted due to financial restrictions. Denzel Washington was originally slated to star as 1970s Harlem, New York drug lord Frank Lucas, but budget constraints led to the film getting scrapped; Cheadle has now expressed interest in taking on the lead. If the film does go into production with Cheadle in the lead, it will reunite the actor with Hotel Rwanda director Terry George.
Good choice, and somewhat cheaper I would assume too. Perhaps this time the studio might want to get a deal made where they only pay the full amount if the film completes…or even begins?
Don Cheatle rocks! He is extremely versatile. He should be bigger than he is, but if he was, I don’t think he would do the work he does because he would be offered shit roles in blockbusters where he either gets lost in the crowd (Oceans whatever number we’re at now) or so big the movie would ride on his back while the writes fuck up the script in the last scene and blow the whole emotional, polictical and physical impact of the movie (Hotel Rwanda).
I’ve slowly but surely been becoming a Don Cheadle fan. He was great in Crash, and his performances in Traffic and Hotel Rwanda are just as good.
To quote some guy in Entertainment Weekly:
‘Don Cheadle? He could do Shakespeare.’
My give-a-f*ck o’ meter just rose two notches.