Denzel Washington has just walked off Unstoppable because studio execs were dragging their feet on when to start.
 
According to Variety.com, he has formally pulled himself from the film after waiting about three months for 20th Century Fox to agree on a budget and start date. But after Denzel walked, the studio said it was ready to talk about a new offer in an effort to get him back on board.
 
Buzz about Denzel reuniting with Tony Scott for the film started in April. Unstoppable would have had Denzel doing his thing on a train again; he would have been playing a conductor helping another engineer stop a runaway locomotive filled with toxic chemicals.
 
Fox has been trying to make this project happen for a long time, but they had to make some budget cuts. Ideally, the studio would like to make the movie for somewhere in the $90-million range; their original budget was $107 million.  As part of their efforts to keep costs low, they (unsuccessfully) asked Denzel to chop $4 million from his usual fee of $20 million.
 
Now, insiders tell Variety that Denzel is now looking for new projects to work on this fall.

-- Sonya Eskridge

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