Thats the first thing.

He calls and says, Hey, do you want to do this?

Weve had a lot of success together, and hes a nice guy, I like him.

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But I dont know when well work together again.

Like I said, he didnt call me forTop Gun 2[Laughs].

And inUnstoppable, youre not the only lead youve got Chris Pine in there.

Ive done a lot of two handers.

A one-and-a-half hander, with Christopher Walken.

What was the question?

[Laughs]

Chris Pines obviously a younger generation in Hollywood.

Was it almost like giving the action mantle to a younger actor?

Titles dont mean anything.

Thats what someone says later on.

Chris was just the best actor for the job.

Tony gave me a list of about ten young actors, and he was the one who stood out.

So you were quite heavily involved in the casting process?

Well I had casting approval, yes.

Did you get involved with casting Rosario Dawson?

I thought she was excellent.

I didnt have to.

Tony said, What do you think of Rosario?

and I said, Great.

That was the extent of it.

But she was great.

And in the real events, it really was a woman who was the boss.

Did you see any of the news footage of the real incident?

Tony got hold of all the footage.

These guys really unhitched their train, went backwards and caught it.

I dont think they ran on the top of it, though.

But its a movie.

Im sure there was no 70 piece orchestra playing up there either.

[Laughs]

Maybe they were in the truck…

Yeah!

I liked that character too, the guy in the truck.

I loved Ned, man.

And hes willing to let you know about it at the end too.

So was that really you running on top of the train?

A lot of it was, yeah.

A stunt man did an overwhelming majority, but I had to do it.

I ran on a train going 50 miles an hour.

[Laughs]

Wasnt that really scary?

But I got used to it.

But I didnt have to run on that part of the movie.

I wouldnt if you paid me.

I wouldnt be running up there.

It was bad enough being on the ground.

Hollywoods a pretty ruthless industry when it comes to age.

Have you found ageism affecting you?

I think thats the bottom line.

I dont think it has anything to do with age.

I think it has to do with making money.

For women it does.

I think its definitely a double standard.

The guy gets older but the girl stays 20, you know?

When you hit that magic four number they give you the elbow.

Going back to casting, presumably you had some involvement with other aspects of the movie.

The script, things like that.

Im sure Ive got more to say now, because I know more.

I was just glad to be there when I started.

But he wants my input.

One of the good things about working with him is that I trust him.

My whole thing is script development, and personally, character development.

This is the second film youve made that has some relation to trains.

Are you quite an expert on trains now?

Can you actually drive one?

In the first film [The Taking Of Pelham 123] it was more about hostages.

It could as easily been about a plane, it didnt matter.

In this one, its all about the train.

And I did learn to drive a train, yes.

I can drive that particular locomotive.

There were a lot of scenes with just you and Chris Pine in a cabin.

Was that shot in a train, or was it a set?

We didnt shoot anything on a set.

So it was a real challenge for Tony.

On the subject of effects, what do you think of the current trend for 3D in movies?

Does that interest you, at all?

Youre the one person who didnt see it!

[Cameron] doesnt need my money!

I think hes alright, though.

So what movies have you enjoyed this year?

Im not really a movie buff.

What did I see this year?The Hurt LockerI really liked.An Education.

I saw the last one with Claire Mulligan,Never Let Me Go.The Other Guys.

Are there any roles that youve turned down, which youve later regretted?Seven, andMichael Clayton.

Who were you going to play inSeven?

The kid [Detective Mills, Brad Pitts character].

I was younger then!

Which life stories would you be interested in making?

Youre well known for tackling famous historical figures.

If Dickie Attenborough asks if I want to play Steven Biko, I say yes.

Spike Lee asks if I want to beMalcolm X, I say yes.

So theres no plan.

Is there a checklist of directors youd like to work with, but havent done so as yet?

There are obvious ones Scorsese, or Tarantino [adopts sad voice], but they havent called.

Scorseses working on a 3D movie at the moment, down at Pinewood.

Maybe I should just drop in.

Oh hi, how ya doin?

Anythin for me in there?

[Laughs] But what do you guys think of 3D?

Has it run its course?

Are you sick of it?

[Everyone murmurs to the effect that, all in all, were rather bored by it.]

Sometimes they do it on the cheap, right?

LikeThe Last Airbender.That was one of the worst examples, in my humble opinion.

And they did that at the last minute?

What happens when its made like that?

It makes the picture look all dingy and dark.

Because they do it after the fact?

Yeah.Clash Of The Titanswas pretty bad as well.

So the best wasAvatar?

[Laughs]

In terms of your role inUnstoppable, what did you do to research it?

Met the guys, learned to drive a train, drove a train by myself.

I met the guy I play.

He was an edgy guy.

Jesse was his actual name, not Frank Barnes.

Would you put it in those terms?

Yeah, I think so.

He definitely shot it like that.

Low angled shots, to make it look more imposing.

We call it the beast.

Its like a monster.

He tweaked the music and the sound, too.

He cut that part together really well.

…and a badger runs across the track, right in front of the speeding train.

Did you see that?

Was that a stunt badger?

[Im relieved to say that Mr. Washington laughed quite a bit at this question.]

Im not at liberty to say!

I know Fox is going back and forth with the badger union.

He didnt get stunt pay.

He just came up, and said, Whats going on?

He just wanted to be in the movie.

That was a trip.

It had to be real.

It couldnt have been a CGI badger.

He made it though, like he thought, Oh, Ive done this before.

We had a casting call, an extras call for fifty men, and 2,000 showed up.

People really needed to work.

One town we went to had 70 per cent unemployment.

So the reality of that really hits you when you get down there.

Its a really depressed area.

So their kids arent growing up in those areas because theres no work.

They said its become a place you want to be from, not where you want to live.

Weve been fascinated by the mid-term elections over here, and whats happened with the Obama presidency.

Whats your take on that?

Do you think he can recover?

Its actually happened to every president in the past 20 years.

It certainly happened to the first Bush, and it definitely happened to Clinton.

Its the one way that people can express their opinions.

I dont think its just directed at Obama, I think people are frustrated.

Youve got to blame somebody, and hes the boss hes got the big target on his head.

I think the message is, You all need to get your act together.

Clinton found his way more to the middle, and a lot of people forget about that.

Well have to see what happens.

Mr. Washington, thank you very much.

Unstoppable arrives in the UK today.