'Man on Fire,' a 22-year dream for Scott

NEW YORK, April 23 (UPI) -- Tony Scott says he wanted to direct a movie based on the novel "Man on Fire" 22 years ago, but the reviews his film "The Hunger" got then prevented it.

In theaters now, Scott's long-awaited film is about a disillusioned former CIA counter-terrorist, played by Denzel Washington, who is hired to protect a wealthy child, played by Dakota Fanning, in Mexico City, where kidnapping is common.

"Twenty years ago, it would have been Marlon Brando (playing the character,)" Scott told UPI in New York. "Now, he's a little heavy to be running around. And then it went from Marlon to Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall was in the mix."

The "True Romance" and "Top Gun" director said he realized Washington would be perfect for the part after running into the "Crimson Tide" star at a doctor's office.

"I was thinking this was my next project and I was getting close to committing and I was sitting in a doctor's surgery waiting for acupuncture on my ... knee and in walked Denzel with a (messed) up knee ... and the two of us just sat and we talked. ... I came out of that meeting in that doctor's surgery and I knew wanted to do it with Denzel."