By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Nicolas Cage and director John Carpenter are in final negotiations to team up for a prison thriller titled "Scared Straight."


The independently financed film follows a troubled youngster who's sent to prison through the Scared Straight crime-prevention program, which incarcerates delinquent teens for a short period in the hopes of deterring them from a life of crime. While the teen is there, a riot breaks out and the prisoners take him hostage. Cage plays a lifer who is forced to help the teen.

An October start is being eyed. The project was set up at New Line for a couple of years but was let go recently.

Cage was in theaters last year with "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the biggest film of his career. Carpenter, famed for "Halloween" and "Escape from New York," was last in theaters with 2001's "Ghosts of Mars."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
© Copyright 2008 Reuters.