'Unstoppable' Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know

MTV News has been tracking this runaway-train movie from the start.
By Eric Ditzian

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in "Unstoppable"
Photo: 20th Century Fox

You could say the story of "Unstoppable" begins in 1995, even before the true events that inspired this action flick about a runaway train. It was 15 years ago that Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott first hooked up for a cinematic collaboration, delivering the first-rate thriller "Crimson Tide."

Their creative partnership became, in the words of Washington, a "good marriage," leading to three more pictures ("Man on Fire," "Déjà Vu" and "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3") and a fifth pairing that was announced even before "Pelham" hit theaters.

"We work well together," Denzel explained. "We trust each other. He knows how to put 'em together. He knows how to make hits."

It's looking like the duo might have another hit on their hands in "Unstoppable." The film, loosely based on the 2001 story of a runaway train carrying far too many toxic chemicals, follows Washington and Chris Pine as they attempt to chase down a train and save a Pennsylvania town from an environmental disaster. MTV News has been chasing the project for a year and a half and has gathered everything together here: our "Unstoppable" cheat sheet.

Pulling out of the Station
Months before "Pelham" opened, news broke that Washington and Tony Scott would be reuniting for "Unstoppable" — making it two train-focused action movies in a row for the pair. Washington was set to play a grizzled engineer who teams up with a young conductor to save the day.

So who would play the conductor? MTV News broke the story in June at the Movie Awards. "I'm going to shoot a movie in the fall called 'Unstoppable' — me and Tony Scott — and Chris Pine's going to do it with us," Washington told us backstage at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. "I hope I'm not speaking out of line. I think they made a deal with him, and I'm supposed to meet him next week."

Chugging Forward
By July, though, "Unstoppable" seemed to have been derailed. Reports suggested Fox had balked at the film's ballooning budget and asked Washington to take a pay cut. He reportedly declined and ditched the project. Yet a week later, Washington was officially back in the mix, and filming began in August with Rosario Dawson coming along for the ride.

Get Outta the Way!
The trailer pulled into the Internet station a year later: big, fast, loud and, seemingly, a whole lot of fun. Then, in September, we snagged an exclusive look at Pine in character.

"The fear factor is up there," Washington told us of the shoot. "It's part of the job. You know they need the shots. You know what you're signing up for. You try to do as little as possible. They make it as safe for you as they can and you go for it."

"For me, the inspiring thing was to work with Denzel and Tony," Pine said. "And it just happened to be on a movie called 'Unstoppable.' If you really want to know why I did it, it was to work with two guys I'd watched and respected for years."

Check out everything we've got on "Unstoppable."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652106/20101111/story.jhtml

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