Carpenter, Cage to be 'Scared Straight'

Los Angeles -- U.S. actor Nicolas Cage may soon team with director John Carpenter to create the prison-based movie "Scared Straight," The Hollywood Reporter said.

The entertainment publication said Friday that the "Next" star and the "Ghosts of Mars" director are in final negotiations to headline the Nu Image/Millennium Films project.

The movie would follow Cage as he plays a prison inmate who helps a younger prisoner incarcerated under the Scared Straight crime-prevention program.

The young inmate is placed in peril when a riot breaks out and he is taken hostage, the Reporter said.

The publication said negotiations for the film's producers are still under way, with Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson and George Furla all being named as
possible additions.

Joe Gazzam wrote the film's initial screenplay and "Straight" was nearly in production at New Line Cinema for several years.

Yet it eventually was released by the cinematic group and found its way to Nu Image/Millennium Films for a rewrite by Ron Brinkerhoff, the Reporter said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.