Nicolas Cage and John Carpenter are in final negotiations to work together on the prison thriller "Scared Straight."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Scared Straight" would be financed by Nu Image/Millennium Films and may be produced by Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm, along with Randall Emmett and George Furla, plus Avi Lerner.

The trade says that the story focuses on a juvenile delinquent who gets temporarily tossed in the hoosegow as part of a Scared Straight crime-prevention program. When a riot breaks out, the teen finds himself held hostage by the real prisoners. Only a lifer (Cage) can help him out.

Joe Gazzam wrote the original script, with recent rewrites by Ron Brinkerhoff.

In a previous incarnation, Rob Cohen was attached to direct, but the "Mummy 3" director remains on as an executive producer.

The "Escape from New York" and "Starman" director hasn't helmed a studio feature since 2001's "Ghosts of Mars." His most recent directing gigs came on installments of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" anthology series.

The ever-busy Cage was most recently seen in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and "Next." His busy upcoming schedule includes "Bangkok Dangerous," "Knowing" and "Bad Lieutenant."