JAMES GANDOLFINI - GANDOLFINI TO STAR IN REMAKE OF THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123

James Gandolfini is to play the mayor of New York City in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123.

The film produced by Columbia Pictures and directed by British director Tony Scott has begun shooting and is due for release next year.

Denzel Washington and John Travolta have also signed up to star in the remake of the 1978 Walter Mattau-starring thriller.

Washington will play a transit cop who is pitted against a group of hijackers led by Travolta, who take over a subway train in order to obtain a sizeable ransom.

Gandolfini will star as the city mayor caught up in the middle of the crisis.

Since finishing the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos, Gandolfini has filmed for the Spike Jonze film Where the Wild Things Are, due for release in October 2009.

He is also planning on starring in and producing a film which casts him as Ernest Hemingway and directed by Philip Kaufman.