Source: Variety

In October, weeks before production was set to begin, the studio pulled the plug on the film American Gangster. Antoine Fuqua was to direct Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro, who both had pay-or-play deals.

Universal reportedly scrapped production because of fears that the gritty period drama was on course to cost more than $100 million.

Seems no that Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment are ready to give American Gangster another go with "Hotel Rwanda" writer-director Terry George at the helm, says Variety.

Brian Grazer, and Universal vice chairman Scott Stuber will re-develope the film with George, with the goal being to make it for around $50 million.

It's been speculated that since George directed "Hotel Rwanda" to critical acclaim,  that that pic's Oscar-nominated star Don Cheadle would be drafted to play the lead role of Frank Lucas, the mastermind of a scheme to smuggle heroin into the U.S. in the caskets of soldiers killed in Vietnam.

Del Toro had been set to play narcotics lawman Richie Roberts, who brought down the Harlem drug kingpin called Superfly and then drafted Lucas to help bring down the dirty cops and overseas conspirators who made it easy to import heroin into the U.S.

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