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Simon West will wear a ‘Medallion’

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EXCLUSIVE: Action fans will know well the name of Simon West, a veteran director who counts ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ and ‘Con Air’ among his filmmaking credits. West returns to form when his remake of the Charles Bronson assassin movie ‘The Mechanic’ starring Jason Statham hits screens early next year.

It might not be long, it turns out, before we see West try his hand at some vintage action again. Several sources familiar with the project say the director is coming on to direct ‘Medallion,’ the story of a father who has just a few hours to locate his kidnapped daughter, who has been locked by hostage-takers in the trunk of an unidentified New York City cab.

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The ‘Taken-’esque story, which is being produced by McG, is based on a script from writer David Guggenheim. Guggenheim is a former US Weekly entertainment journalist who made a splash when he sold ‘Safe House,’ the Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds thriller that’s currently shooting. West is shooting the Dwayne Johnson action movie ‘Protection’ first, then would make the move to ‘Medallion.’

There have been a number of top-flight actors previously discussed for the lead part in the film, including Clive Owen and Nicolas Cage. No big name is on board yet, but with West now in the director’s chair and McG producing the film, we don’t imagine they’ll have much trouble finding one.

-- Steven Zeitchik

Twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

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