Training Day star Ethan Hawke and director Antoine Fuqua are ready to work together again as Fuqua will direct the crime thriller Brooklyn’s Finest, which wi”ll star Hawke, Richard Gere and Don Cheadle with Ellen Barkin also set to join the cast. Mel Gibson was reportedly close to starring, which would have ended a five year acting drought if you don’t count his cameo in Paparazzi in 2004.
The story, a sort of Crash meets Training Day, is a dramatic ensemble with three intertwining story lines involving Brooklyn cops. The film was penned by Staten Island tollboth worker Michael Martin who had just totaled his car in an accident and while in physical therapy, he entered a screenwriting competition, hoping to win the prize money for his new set of wheels.
Martin gained attention via the script, did some writing on Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell” and is also writing New Jack City 2 for Warner Premiere, Warner Bros.’ direct-to-DVD house.
Brooklyn’s Finest is expected to begin shooting in May, in Brooklyn, at several of the locations that inspired Martin’s script.
