—Twenty-one years after Midnight Express (and just months after the flop of Brokedown Palace), Hollywood still has a jones for drug-smuggling movies. "It's one of those topics that always gets a reaction when you go in for a pitch meeting," says producer David Glasser. "It adds a new dimension to the cops-and-robbers thing." Glasser's contribution to the genre: Cutaway, starring Dennis Rodman and Tom Berenger as skydiving smugglers, due next summer. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt is considering starring in Smuggler's Moon, about two brothers who use their documentary-film company as a drug front. In January, Johnny Depp will begin shooting Blow, based on the life of George Jung, a notorious American drug trafficker. Director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight) is helming Traffic, about contemporary drug wars between Washington and Mexico. And Martin Lawrence has been in talks to star in See Spot Run, the tale of a drug-sniffing crime dog. Why the sudden drug chic? Why any of these trends, for that matter? "These movies kind of go in waves, and no one really knows why," says director Bay. "Hollywood is a weird place."

Originally posted Dec 03, 1999 Published in issue #515 Dec 03, 1999 Order article reprints
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