Brian Dennehy and John Leguizamo to join Pacino and De Niro in Righteous Kill.

Golden Globe winner Brian Dennehy (Cocoon, Best Seller) is in final negotiations, and John Leguizamo (To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Ice Age) has signed on the bottom line, for Righteous Kill.

They will join Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as well as Carla Gugino, 50 cent and Donnie Wahlberg.

De Niro and Pacino play police detectives tracking a vigilante killer. Leguizamo plays another cop that is butting heads with them, while Dennehy is their captain.

Carla Gugino (Sin City, Night at the Museum) is a crime scene investigator with “dark personal life.” She becomes involved with De Niro’s character.

50 Cent will be playing a drug dealer that assists the detectives in their investigation.

Russell Gerwitz wrote the screenplay. Gerwitz wrote last year’s Inside Man. He is currently working on a screenplay for a sequel to Inside Man.

The director is Jon Avnet. This is where I get a little nervous. Avnet directed Fried Green Tomatoes and Up Close and Personal. UCP was a real stinker with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Seriously, not only should the price of the ticket been reimbursed, but with extra for pain and suffering. Of course I am partially to blame for paying to see a film with Pfeiffer as a lead.

If both Al and Bob (that is what all of his buddies call him) have committed, one would think they must feel he is capable to pulling this off.

Plus after seeing their one shared scene in Heat, I can’t wait for an entire film of this duo.

Filming has just started, with an expected release in spring of 2008.