Unstoppable is an upcoming action film directed by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film is set for release on November 12, 2010. A rail company frantically works to prevent an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying combustible liquids and poisonous gas from wiping out a city. A veteran engineer (Denzel Washington) and a young conductor (Chris Pine) chase the train in a separate locomotive in order to bring it under control before it's too late.
Unstoppable suffered various production challenges before filming could commence, including casting, schedule, location, and budgetary concerns.
In June 2007, 20th Century Fox was in negotiations with Martin Campbell to direct the film, and he was attached as director, until March 2009 when Tony Scott came onboard as director. In April, both Denzel Washington and Chris Pine were attached to the project.
The original budget had been trimmed from $107 million down to $100 million, but Fox wanted to further reduce it to the low $90 million range, asking director Scott to cut his salary from $9 million to $6 million, and wanting Washington to shave $4 million off his $20 million fee. Washington declined, and citing lost patience with the film's lack of a start date, and although attached since April, he formally withdrew from the project in July. Fox made a modified offer as enticement and he returned to the project two weeks later.
