August 3, 1998
HOLLYWOOD -- Samuel L. Jackson is indebted to Sylvester Stallone.

When the not-so-sly one passed on Warner Bros. tense hostage drama The Negotiator, the role went to Jackson.

Now the studio has signed Jackson for Deep Blue Sea, an action thriller about a group of marine biologists battling a pod of genetically enhanced sharks.

Deep Blue Sea will reunite Jackson with Renny Harlin, who directed him opposite Harlin's then-wife Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Deep Blue Sea will mark Harlin's first film since he and Davis split.

It will also star rapper L.L. Cool J, who opens this Wednesday in Halloween H20 where he plays a security guard at a private school that masked madman Michael Myers terrorizes.

Deep Blue Sea is set to begin filming this week in Mexico.