Oscar-winner Denzel Washington squares off against John Travolta in atense hostage thriller directed by Tony Scott and adapted from the samenovel that was the basis of a hit movie 35 years ago. Here's a look at.
Walter Garber is a traffic managerin the control center for the vast New York City Subway undergroundrail system. On an ordinary day he may have to deal with trains thatbreak down, derailments, stuck signals and the like.
But when one of his trains stops in mid-tunnel for no apparent reason he quickly finds out this is no ordinary day.
Atrain hijacked at gunpoint with hostages' lives at stake puts Garber inthe 'hot seat' because the mastermind of the plot - who calls himself'Ryder' - will only talk to the dispatcher as he details his demandspunctuated with threats of deadly violence.
Director Tony Scottsays his challenge was to keep the audience in suspense and keep themovie moving forward as the two adversaries spend much of the timetalking back and forth on the radio.
"For me it's a tough movieto do," Scott says. "Two-thirds of the movie is two guys on the phoneso I saw that as being a challenge to keep the anxiety and momentumgoing because, as I say, two-thirds of the movie it's two guys on thephone with each other."
As he did in hit movies like and , Scott relies on reality rather than digitaleffects, in this case putting his actors in real New York subway carsand along the tracks in the real tunnels.
"The city was thethird character in the movie and became a very important factor," saysScott. "That's why I opened the movie with freneticism and anxietywhich I stole from "Koyaanisqatsi," which was a big, old 'stoner' moviefrom the '70's - the same time they brought out [theoriginal]"?Pelham." I wanted to make the city a very strong characterand I think I handled and shot it in a way that it hasn't been before.It's always about noise and people and anxiety, so it was a greatcontrast. For me this movie was a brilliant canvas in terms of thebowels of the city of New York down in the subway system to thecalmness and the quiet of the almost NASA-like MTA control center. So Ihad a great canvas on which to work. "
"I just liked the fact that he was an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation," adds Denzel Washington.
? is co-star Washington's fourth film with director Scott; and forthis one Washington says his big challenge was not to be a policeofficer or a leader, but to be just an ordinary civil servant.
"Thechallenge is that there was nothing special about the guy," Washingtonsays. "He's a regular, hard-working 'Joe' and I embraced that. So hedoesn't know anything about guns. We don't suddenly find out that hewas in 'Delta Force' as a kid. He's just an overweight, coffee-spillingklutz who saves the day."
The original film starred WalterMatthau as Garber and Robert Shaw was the subway hijacker, thecharacter John Travolta plays in the new film. However Washington saysit is not based on that 1974 thriller.
"I don't think it's aremake," Washington says. "I think it's basically a story of a hostagesituation on a train in New York City. I think that's what the twofilms have in common and I don't know that my character and thecharacter that Walter Matthau played are that similar."
also features John Turturro as the New Yorkpolice department's skilled hostage negotiator. James Gandolfini playsthe city's scandal-plagued mayor and Luiz Guzman is one of Travolta'skey henchmen in the hijacking. The screenplay, adapted from the novelby John Godey, is by Brian Helgeland.