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DENZEL’S ‘AMERICAN GANGSTER’ FINALLY ROLLS CAMERAS: Film begins production in NY after two years of drama; T.I. added to the cast.
*Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe finally began production on Imagine Entertainment’s “American Gangster” Monday in Queens, NY as news of rapper T.I.’s addition to the cast was made public.
“Gangster’s” long and winding road began in late 2004, when director Antoine Fuqua was attached to direct Washington and Benicio Del Toro in the lead roles. But a month before production, Universal Pictures chairman Stacey Snider canceled the film over fear the budget would surpass $100 million.
Imagine's Brian Grazer, who developed the drama from a New York magazine article by Mark Jacobson, brought in “Hotel Rwanda” writer-director Terry George to punch up Steve Zaillian's script and trim the budget. But Scott eventually dropped out after Universal still couldn’t get its budget issues together.
With the money situation finally worked out, enter Ridley Scott, who will now direct Washington and Crowe in the 1970s-set film about a police detective (Crowe) on the heels of a drug lord (Washington) who smuggled heroin into Harlem inside the coffins of soldiers returning from Vietnam. T.I. will play Washington’s nephew, a character he tells Billboard.com is “somewhat of a stretch.”
"Right now I'm learning everything I can about my character. I'm just there to soak things up," T.I. says. "There's a bunch of Academy Award-winners on this cast and I'm just there to learn. I'm in school."
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