Denzel takes Pelham?

Now that he got thug life out of his system with AMERICAN GANGSTER, it looks like Denzel Washington will put on the badge again and play for the good guys.

According to EW, Denzel plans to reunite with director Tony Scott for a remake of THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, one of the more memorable crime thrillers of the 70s. The influential original starred Walter Matthau as a curmudgeonly New York transit cop dealing with four armed hijackers (including the great Robert Shaw) holding a subway car of innocents for ransom.

Washington, who just worked with Scott brother Ridley on GANGSTER, previously teamed with Tony on DEJA VU, CRIMSON TIDE and MAN ON FIRE. Sony’s PELHAM remake is reportedly on the hot list for pre-strike material, so we should see official confirmation/denial shortly. (Update: It has since been corroborated by Variety, who also say the script comes from SPIDER-MAN writer David Koepp.)

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 was already remade as a 1998 TV movie with Vincent D’Onofrio, Donnie Wahlberg and Edward James Olmos.