UPTOWNflavor

The forthcoming drama, American Gangster, has been seen filming all over Harlem. After many delays, the film has finally wrapped but Denzel’s paycheck seems to be paying the cost. Apparently there was a clause in his contract stating that a delay will come out of his reported salary of $20 million. EURweb reports that Denzel’s contract mandates that he will be penalized if the film was delayed.

The beleaguered film was originally set to start production in 2004 under the direction of Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), but was canceled due to an inflated budget that exceeded $100 million. As a result, the production company absorbed a $30 million loss in addition to the multi-million dollar salaries of both stars.

Ironically, director Ridley Scott who took over the troubled production brought in additional actors and the film has suffered multiple delays in the attempt to resurrect it. With big names like Brian Grazer and Ron Howard backing this production one would think that the production will live up to the media hype and make up the millions of dollars already lost once it hits the silver screen.

American Gangster is expected to be in theaters in 2oo7.

Related: Harlem Fur :: Concrete Loop :: New York Mag ::