Denzel Washington Says 'Fear Factor' Was Real On 'Unstoppable'

'Yeah, I ran on top of the trains,' Oscar winner tells MTV News about doing dangerous stunts on runaway train thriller.
By Kara Warner

Denzel Washington in "Unstoppable"
Photo: 20th Century Fox

Given his respected Hollywood résumé, Denzel Washington could be going for a jog or running on top of a train, and movie audiences would probably be riveted. But with regard to that running-on-top-of-a-train stunt, which Washington pulls off in the Tony Scott thriller "Unstoppable," the Oscar winner admitted there wasn't much in the way of acting skill required for that scene — courage is more like it.

"The fear factor is up there," Washington recently told MTV News. "It's part of the job. You know they need the shots. You know what you're signing up for. You try to do as little as possible. They make it as safe for you as they can and you go for it," he explained.

"We didn't do the most dangerous aspects of it but yeah, I ran on top of the trains," he revealed about the flick opening Friday. And although stunt teams assured the actors that they'd be safe, Washington laughed, "Getting on the top of that train, that was very heroic on my part. I did not want to do that."

Loosely based on true events, "Unstoppable" tells the story of two railway workers who set out to stop a runaway train loaded with explosive chemicals from crashing into a small town.

A while back, we caught up with Washington's co-star, Chris Pine, and he agreed there was a fear factor to overcome, especially since the real-life conductors who advised them on set all had horror stories about working on the tracks.

"The guys would tell stories about guys who weren't paying attention on the tracks, with their backs turned, and very silently a train would creep up, whether it was working on the yard, or whatever was happening at the time, and would crush someone," Pine said. "Every single one of the conductors or engineers had stories about hitting someone or maiming someone, and each yard has a therapist in place to deal with that. And more often than not, it's not their fault. People are committing suicide or people are screwed up and accidently left their cars on the tracks. But it can be a pretty grim business."

Check out everything we've got on "Unstoppable." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1651980/20101110/story.jhtml

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