DENZEL WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON DRUG SMUGGLING FILM BACK ON

DENZEL WASHINGTON's dream role as a drug kingpin is being realised, with RUSSELL CROWE joining him for AMERICAN GANGSTER. Washington has been behind the project for years but costs left the film languishing last year (05) amid fears it would never get made. Back then, BENICIO DEL TORO was slated to appear alongside the TRAINING DAY star - as the cop on this trail. Del Toro has since left the project, leaving Crowe to join the cast after reading a revised script. In the film, which will now be directed by Crowe's GLADIATOR boss RIDLEY SCOTT, Washington will play a New York drug boss who smuggled heroin in the body bags of US soldiers killed in Vietnam.