Category Archives: Optioned Books

David Oyelowo Attached To Play Sugar Ray Robinson In ‘Sweet Thunder’

David Oyelowo has just won a role of a lifetime. The young actor is being fitted for boxing gloves as he prepares to step into the shoes of the iconic boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson. That’s right, a major biopic is in the works, following the boxers life. Its inspired by the Wil Haygood biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Also on board already are Moneyball producer Rachael Horovitz and Game Change screenwriter Danny Strong plans to produce as well. Even Oyelowo will act as executive producer. Author Wil Haygood wrote up a draft of the script, but since Strong has the experience, he may be called upon to do a re-write. There’s no director as of yet.

Strong last made an Optionated headline when we learned actor from “The Gilmore Girls” would be writing the adapted screenplay for Mockingjay, the third film in The Hunger Games series.

Apparently most of this plan for a new film about Sugar Ray developed on the set of another picture, called The Butler, being directed by Lee Daniels. In the film Oyelowo stars with Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker. Strong wrote that script, based on Haygood’s Washington Post article, and the three of them got to chatting about doing a boxing film. It’s always nice to learn how a film idea is born. This also sounds like a really great team. Maybe we’ll get even more films out of them in the future.

Sugar Ray Robinson is considered to many as the greatest boxer in history, especially given his weight class. If you remember Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorese, starring Robert De Niro, you would recall Sugar Ray fought six times with boxer Jake LaMotta and Robinson won five of those bouts.

Sweet Thunder will focus on the fighter’s early career. It seems that during this era, boxing was controlled by organized crime, and because Robinson refused to play along with them and wouldn’t throw fights, he struggled. In fact, he eventually helped shine a light on those shady dealings.

You may have noticed Oyelowo in his work on the British spy series MI-5, which is currently on Netflix. More recently he appeared in Middle Of Nowhere and The Paperboy. This fall he stars opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher and he’ll even appear in a small role in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis. I think it’s safe to say, in Oyelowo’s case, a star has been born.

‘Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ Optioned By Disney

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Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a children’s book written by American author, Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz. Awards it has earned since its original publication in 1972 have been the George G. Stone Center Recognition of Merit and a Georgia Children’s Book Award. If you’re a fan of the book, you’ll be pleased to learn that its going to be made into a Hollywood adaptation.

Disney has big plans for this popular 32-page children’s book. Steve Carell is already attached to star in the film adaptation. He’ll play Alexander’s father. The writer and director of the critically acclaimed drama, The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko, is also directing this project. In fact, she co-wrote the adapted screenplay for Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible… with Rob Lieber. On the production side are Shawn Levy and Dan Levine for 21 Laps, as well as Lisa Henson. 20th Century Fox did have the film rights first, but nothing came of it.

Just as the title suggests, Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is focused upon a rotten day in the life of the young Alexander. It begins the moment Alexander gets up in the morning. There’s gum tangled in his hair, he trips over his skateboard and then accidentally drops his sweater into the sink with the water on.

At school things continue poorly. In fact, there isn’t even a dessert in his lunch. After class, he visits the dentist and learns he has a cavity and things escalate from there. The elevator door closes on his foot, one of his brothers pushes him in the mud, and when he retaliates against his other brother for laughing at him when he cries, his Mom catches him and punishes him instead.

At night there are lima beans for dinner, which Alexander does not like, soap gets in his eyes at bath time, and after he turns in, unfortunately biting his tongue, he sees that the family cat has chosen to sleep with one of his brothers rather than with him. Alexander claims things are so bad that he wants to move to Australia.

In the end Alexander’s mother promises him that everyone has bad days, even people living in Australia.

The book has a sequel called Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days.

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day probably won’t debut until 2014. As for Steve Carell, he’ll enjoy a very busy 2013. His films debuting next year include The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, The Way, Way Back , Despicable Me 2 and Foxcatcher.

‘Wolverine’ Writer Joins ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’

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Get ready, sci-fi fans, Caesar, leader of simian kind, is coming back to theaters. From 20th Century Fox, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which debuted in August 5, 2011, was a runaway smash hit. Popular drama The Help premiered around the same time, and even though it went on to earn Oscar nominations, the buzz over Apes nearly drowned out the other film. And The Wolverine scribe, Mark Bomback, is now on the job.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a re-boot of the classic science fiction series of Apes films. The first appeared in 1968, starring Charlton Heston as an astronaut who believes he has crash landed on a strange alien planet where apes are intelligent and capable of speech and rule over dimwitted humans. Of course the infamous twist comes at the end when he spies the Statue of Liberty and realized he’s standing on earth, in the distant future. There were four sequels to the original Planet of the Apes, and I love them all so much that I think I can give you a short summary.

Let’s see… We meet some intelligent and even frightening humans remaining on the Planet of the Apes. They are definitely odd, and they worship a nuclear bomb. They set it off at the end of film two and Taylor and Nova die. In film three, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Taylor’s intelligent ape pals, Cornelius and Zira, whose most remembered line from film one is, “I’d kiss you, but your so damned ugly,” escape the bombing of their planet by hopping into Taylor’s restored space ship. They end up in our modern-day, which at the time was 1973 (though the picture premiered in ’71). They become instant celebrities.

Cornelius and Zira have a child, which they name Milo, and Ricardo Montalbán hides him when his parents are tragically murdered. In film four, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, it is ten years later and Montalbán’s character Armando has re-named Milo with the familiar moniker, Caesar. He tries to protect Caesar, but a strange disease has killed off all of earth’s cats and dogs, so humans have adopted apes as pets. Of course, the apes get smarter and smarter and are becoming valets and personal assistants to the humans. Caesar ends up in the training facility, destined to become a servant and play dumb. As he is found out, he rebels, and then turns the world upside down by leading the rest of the apes to overthrow mankind.

That film was the closest to the 2011 revamp, which starred

Finally, in 1973, came film five, Battle for the Planet of the Apes. It is about twelve years later and Caesar is still in charge. He struggles to keep power away from the humans, while grappling with feelings of empathy for them.

The important news; however, is that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is coming on May 23rd, 2014. Andy Serkis is returning as Caesar. You know the drill. He wears all those sensors on his face and those translate into the finished product as Caesar emoting. I was amazed at how easy it was to connect with the digitally rendered ape in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

In this version of the mythology, in hunting for a cure for Alzheimer’s, Caesar, a regular ol’ chimp, is injected with a serum that makes him smarter than the average jungle dweller. He then leads a rebellion for his kind against mankind. Matt Reeves will direct the sequel and a screenwriter has just signed on. That’s Mark Bomback. He also wrote for Live Free or Die Hard as well as the Total Recall remake. Bomback knows action!

What an exciting job he has! The story will depict the fall of human civilization. There’s so many terrible things that can help tip the scales in ape favor. Which do you think he’ll choose?

All Ape films, including the latest re-boots, credit the book, Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle as their inspiration. Oops. I failed to mention Mark Wahlberg’s previous franchise re-boot. Oh yeah, that’s because I didn’t like it very much. Sorry!

Spy Thriller ‘The Right Hand’ Optioned

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The spy thriller, The Right Hand, from author Derek Haas is headed to the big screen. Universal Pictures and producer Scott Stuber are behind the fresh movie deal. Haas along with screenwriting partner Michael Brandt, are planning to work on adapting a screenplay. It seems a very well-made book trailer spawned mega interest in the thriller, but this team won out.

The project definitely as a capable screenwriting team. Their works include Wanted, 2 Fast 2 Furious and 3:10 To Yuma. Brandt and Haas are also behind the new NBC series, Chicago Fire.

The Right Hand is the fourth novel from Derek Haas. The novel hit bookshelves on November 13th, from Mulholland Books. The story follows Austin Clay, a spy so covert that he’s basically a ghost. when he’s sent in to investigate a missing American operative, being held by Russians, he uncovers more than he bargained for. There’s a conspiracy at work, involving a mole hiding in the top-most echelons of the U.S. government. Fans of Angelina Jolie’s Salt, and hit series Homeland, should enjoy this picture when it all comes together. It also has the feel of Tom Clancy’s work.

Damian Saccani will serve as executive producer on the project.

In a statement Haas explained, “I’m thrilled The Right Hand is in the hands of Scott Stuber and Universal, with whom Michael and I have had incredible movie experiences. We love that after readers get a chance to discover this spy thriller in November, we’ll get to bring it to the screen ourselves.”

Readers seem to agree that Haas’s work is non-stop action and very stylish to boot. Could this be the new Bourne Identity? This year’s Bourne Legacy was a little lackluster in my opinion. That wasn’t the fault of the actors, who did great jobs with what they were given. Adding Jeremy Renner to the series, did some to keep the beat breathing. The script just felt to me like a somewhat clumsy attempt at CPR. Still, there’s potential there, provided a another sequel pulls out all the stops.

He isn’t a spy, per say, but if this genre thrills you, do not forget to check out Alex Cross this weekend. In this one Tyler Perry faces off against a serial killer in a role Morgan Freeman has brought to life twice before. Matthew Fox and Jean Reno also star.

Of course Mission Impossible 4 also fits into the spy genre. I thought that was a decent return for that franchise, but some of the action was a little far-fetched.

Twilight Saga Marathon Trailer Released

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Do you remember how it all began? The boy at Forks High School with the strange eyes; Bella trying to figure out how he stopped the car from crushing her in the parking lot. Bella, alone in the woods with Edward, breathing the word vampire on the chill, humid air for the first time. How about the very first time Jacob transforms? When we first meet the sinister Volturi. Or the beautiful outdoor event that was Bella and Edward’s wedding?

These moments and more can be re-lived during the Twilight Saga Marathon event. So, call all your girl friends and buy your tickets soon.

Summit Entertainment is responsible for the cinematic event, which will include a five-film marathon of The Twilight Saga. That’s right, your ticket gives you access to re-watch Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn part one, all in one day, just before seeing for the first time ever, the latest and final installment, Breaking Dawn part two. Fandango has revealed that the event happens November 15th, 2012 at theaters across North America. They also unveiled a nostalgic new trailer just for the Twilight Saga Marathon. It features some of those famous Twilight moments, including the chilling scene where the army of Newborns walks out of the sea.

That ain’t all, either. Wait until you get to the part of the new trailer which features scenes from the new film! We’ve got more vampires to meet, and some of them have special abilities. What am I saying? We have yet to meet Mrs. Bella Cullen as a Newborn vamp! She’s got some surprises left to reveal herself!

I know what you’re thinking. Won’t a marathon of the magnitude last all day? Sure it will. But we hear the final film, Breaking Dawn part two, will strike at about 10 pm as a part of that event. Maybe that will give you an idea of how long you’ll be sitting in the theater.

If you have your own plans for marathon at home or just want to skip right to the exiting final film, worry not, you can choose to watch The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 all by itself in North American theaters, beginning on November 16th, 2012. That date isn’t so far away now, either!

Will the wolves team up with the Cullens and their new friends against the Volturi? Will there be betrayals? Will any of our favorites die? What will become of Bella and Edward’s daughter? Will Bella kill Jacob for imprinting on her?

I can answer one question. What’s the craziest part of this trailer? Near the end in the final, frozen, epic battle against the Volturi, it looks like Edward swings his wife into an enemy, putting some serious momentum behind her kick. That was a little weird, yes? It reminds me of Marvel comics Wolverine doing his fast ball special.

Breaking Dawn part one was the 4th highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide. Will Breaking Dawn part two do just as well? Part two is directed also by Bill Condon. The screenplay came from Melissa Rosenberg and Stephenie Meyer herself. Seeing the last picture in the franchise is pretty exciting stuff, but you have also heard that there’s a special unscripted scene the actors got together and filmed as a gift and tribute to director Bill Condon. Now that will be a noteworthy sequence to watch!

Two of our newest vampires are Christian Camargo as Eleazar and Mía Maestro as Carmen. Maestro sang a track for the last film’s soundtrack.

‘The Woman in Black: Angel of Death’ Finds Director

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Actor Daniel Radcliffe proved he was all grown up and ready to give us a scare in February of 2012. No, this was not when he went nude for Equus on the stage. Rather, that month saw the release of The Woman in Black, a horror film making headlines once again because a new sequel has been ordered.

The Woman in Black grossed about $127,730,736, worldwide. It was directed by James Watkins, with a screenplay by Jane Goldman. This was the same talented lady who did writing work for Stardust, X-Men: First Class and The Debt. The film was based upon the scary Susan Hill novel of the same name.

The story follows a young lawyer, acted by Radcliffe, who circumstances lead to stay in the home of some locals in the English countryside in the Edwardian era. That’s why you saw photos circulating the web of the Harry Potter actor in that great old-fashioned attire. Eel Marsh House; however, is haunted by, you guessed it, The Woman in Black.

The sequel, called The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, will be directed by BAFTA nominee, Tom Harper, of The Scouting Book for Boys and The Borrowers.

The sequel will be produced by Exclusive Media, Talisman, Cross Creek Pictures and Alliance Films, with Roy Lee as Executive Producer. Screenwriter Jon Croker, who also wrote Desert Dancer, has completed the screenplay, also based on an original story by author Susan Hill.

The story in The Woman in Black: Angel of Death kicks off four decades after the original. I think its safe to say Radcliffe won’t be rejoining the cast, in that case. Eel Marsh House is still standing, having been seized by the government during World War II. The was displaces a group of evacuated children who wind up staying at the house, only to encounter The Woman in Black.

Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer Films said: “We are assembling a terrific team to bring The Woman in Black: Angel of Death to the big screen and Tom is a great addition to that family. His unique visual approach and storytelling style perfectly compliments the smart, sophisticated horror movies that Hammer is championing.”

Xavier Marchand Alliance Films’ President of Worldwide Distribution and Managing Director of UK distributor Momentum Pictures, said “We know audiences in the UK and across the world love being terrified by ‘The Woman in Black’ so we’re excited to be partners in bringing them the next episode of Susan Hill’s haunting story, under Tom’s expert direction.”

Director Tom Harper said, “I am thrilled to be a part of The Woman in Black: Angel of Death. This will be a great opportunity for me to collaborate with a brilliantly talented team on the next installment in this exciting series.”

The original Woman in Black film is considered one of the highest grossing British horror film of the past 20 years. It had an atmospheric and noteworthy soundtrack by Marco Beltrami.

In Eric Eisenberg’s review of the original detailed that the picture used “shadows and low light to create a sense of disorientation and panic. The house in which Arthur is working is filled with terrifying toys and porcelain dolls that aren’t scary by themselves, but do a brilliant job adding a creepy ambiance to every scene. Unfortunately, the movie does make heavy use of jump scares, which will effectively raise the audiences’ blood pressure, but feel cheap and phony in the aftermath.

He also said, “As a whole it’s an effective and creepy ghost story. …It may not elicit screams from everyone that goes to see it, but it is guaranteed to send chills down the spine of even the bravest viewer.”

Weird Western ‘The Sixth Gun’ Shopped to NBC

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Oni Press has a Weird Western graphic novel series called The Sixth Gun. These tales are being revamped for television and that means you may just catch them on NBC.

When I use the term Weird Western, I do so in a very loving manner. That’s the name many of us writerly and readerly types give to Westerns with a paranormal bent. Cowboys & Aliens, as well as Jonah Hex, would definitely fit into the category of a Weird Western.

The Sixth Gun is written by Cullen Bunn with illustration by Brian Hurtt. Here’s the description of Volume 1. Bunn and Hurtt are names to remember. another Oni book series of theirs, titled The Damned, is in development at Showtime. I’d say it’s time to break out the champagne.

During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

The girl at the center of the madness is Becky Montcrief. I can definitely see where this premise would make for intriguing television. Just mix Deadwood with Supernatural and I think you’d hook an audience.

Universal TV, along with the production company of Oni Press, which is called “Closed on Mondays Entertainment,” has agreed to produce the TV adaptation of the graphic novel series.

Carlton Cuse, who worked on the endlessly popular series, Lost, and screenwriter Ryan Condal, are teaming up to make the show a reality. Condal is working on the script as we speak and plans to executive produce the series with Closed on Monday’s co-founder Eric Gitter and Andy Bourne. Carlton Cuse is also hard at work on the Psycho prequel TV series called the Bates Motel, which will star the lovely Vera Farmiga at the A&E network, and he’s busy co-writing Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain pilot for FX. He’s shaping up to be quite the TV rockstar.

Bunn and Hurt like to add a twist of the supernatural to their graphic novel work. The Damned, for instance, takes place in the prohibition era, which is interesting enough for good crime and drama on its own. They toss in a black market soul trade and an ancient family feud. You’ve got to love that.

I hear screenwriter Ryan Condal is also piecing together a Hercules project at MGM. That could be interesting.

If I had to play the casting game for The Sixth Gun series, I’d say, let’s cast Adrianne Palicki as the female lead. She isn’t exactly tied up doing Wonder Woman, now, is she? She’ll appear next on the big screen in the Red Dawn re-make opposite Chris Hemsworth. In fact, Carey Elwes was going to star in Wonder Woman as well. He could play a male lead. Do you think he’d fit in a Western? Kevin Kline could also work. He did appear way back in 1999 in Wild Wild West.

Michelle Williams Circles ‘Suite Francaise’

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Suite Française, the novel by Irène Némirovsky (translated to English by Sandra Smith), is being adapted for the big screen. Will Michelle Williams star in it? That’s a possibility!

If the star of My Week with Marilyn signs on to the project, she play Lucille Angellier, an old-fashioned gal with gumption, living in Nazi-occupied France. What does she do? She goes and falls in love with a German officer. Woops! It won’t be easy choosing between love and country, either.

Lucille is married, too, but not in love with her husband, who leaves to join the fight, leaving her under the poor care of her overbearing mother-in-law. Lucille losses herself in the piano when things get tough. Of course, when the young German officer enters her life, staying in their home, revealing he’s a former composer, well, then the attraction becomes undeniable.

British director, Saul Dibb is making the proper preparations. Suite Française will be his next film. Four years ago he was sitting in the director chair for another period drama, The Duchess, for Paramount Vantage. That one starred Keira Knightley of course. Dibb also wrote it.

Williams is now a three-time Oscar nominee, and I’ll say that she earned every nomination. If she accepts the offer to star Suite Française, she’ll be agreeing to rejoin her My Week With Marilyn collaborators David Parfitt and Mark Cooper. Those two are producing Suite Française. Work should begin next spring in London.

Blue Valentine aside, (okay, and Brokeback Mountain aside, too) Williams does some of her best work in period films. She was simply haunting in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island. did you notice her accent, too? And her work getting into the character of Marilyn Monroe has been unforgettable. My Week With Marilyn resulted in her first Golden Globe win. Soon we’ll see Williams as Glinda the Good Witch in Sam Raimi’s big show Oz: The Great and Powerful, coming from Disney on March 8.

Williams is the only young actress I’ve ever felt can compare in aptitude for acting to the immortal Ms. Meryl Streep. I haven’t had the chance yet to see her in Meek’s Cutoff, but the Western, which has circumstances not unlike the old Oregon Trail video game, sounds very intense. Her romantic comedy, Take this Waltz, was released in September. In it Williams shared the screen with Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.

Author Irène Némirovsky is a Jew who lived in Paris as a successful writer even before her novel debuted. Unfortunately, in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. According to Goodreads, Suite Française remained hidden for sixty-four years. I also hear that because of her untimely death, the novel was never fully completed. Reviewers note the haunting beauty of Némirovsky voice in her book and say the story was riveting and heart-breaking.

Saul Dibb’s Duchess took home the Oscar for costume design and earned a Golden Globe nom for Ralph Fiennes. Dibbs is also working on a thriller called Codenames Only.

Screen Gems to Adapt ‘Black City’

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Black City is a young-adult fantasy series written by Elizabeth Richards. Get this. It isn’t even available for purchase yet, but it is soon to be a major motion picture, thanks to the kind folks over at the Screen Gems studio.

The first book in the series will be released to book sellers on November 13th. It’s coming from a publisher called Putnam Juvenile, which is an imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group.

Screen Gems raced to buy the film rights to the series because already the franchise has a huge following online. Apparently, those who love young adult fiction are sniffing the air and predicting Black City will be a major hit. All Screen Gems needs now is a screenwriter adept at adapting books to film.

Black City, the first book in the what’s just being called The Black City series, is set in a metropolis where humans and the race of Darklings are separated by a really high wall. There’s a cold war of sorts going on in the aftermath of a terrible war. Tension is at an all time high, and sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and fall in love.

This sounds like your average star-crossed lovers tale, but here’s a cute twist. For some mysterious reason, Natalie literally causes Ash’s heart to beat. I’m guessing Darklings are a little bit like zombies, because Ash’s heart hasn’t beat in a very long time. Of course the young lovers face death if they are found out.

No, scratch that. I think Darklings are vampiric. My online research suggests they drink blood, have wings, and purple eyes. Watch your back Liz Taylor. You, too, Vampire Hunter D. I kid but, reviewers are already calling the book bloody and sexy, so this film will have a dark slant, I’m sure.

Oh yes, and while they’re at it, the paranormal pair uncovers a conspiracy at work within the city. Dun dun dun. Do you think you’ll be hooked?

Black City will be Elizabeth Richards’ debut novel. She’s an award-winning journalist who largely reviewed video games before becoming a travel writer and editor. She also has has experience as a website editor. Now it looks like she could be the next Stephenie Meyer. We’ll have to wait and see.

More and more we are seeing studios scooping up film rights to a hot book, even before it has been officially published. That speaks volumes about the popularity of fiction these days, especially young adult fiction. Twilight and The Hunger Games have been money-makers thus far. Still, there’s a gamble involved when you haven’t first seen the book make it to the best seller’s list.

The phenomenon isn’t secluded to the YA audience, however. The Care And Feeding Of Exotic Pets by Diana Wagman, as we reported not long ago, debuts November 13th, but a film is already in the works. That one is an adult thriller.

If you’re a fan of YA, especially YA of the paranormal variety, you are surely aware that The Host and City of Bones are two novels with film adaptations already under way.

Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Mobius’ is ‘Moby Dick’ in Space

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Moby Dick is Herman Melville’s great American classic. It takes place aboard the Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab, a man obsessed with avenging the loss of his leg and a previous vessel to Moby Dick, a giant sperm whale. It’s written from the point of view of Ishmael, a sailor aboard the ship. Now, Hollywood has plans to transform the 1851 drama into a space-age motion picture.

Watch your back Prometheus, Mobius is coming.

Scott Pictures is run by Scott Steindorff, who has just agreed to finance Mobius, Lynne Ramsay’s pet project. The science fiction tale is inspired by Moby Dick. It’s so far described as a psychological thriller with loads of action, which takes place in deep space, where one ship’s captain is consumed by the need for vengeance. Never mind the expense of the crew or the fact that his war against a mysterious alien is basically suicide. No word yet on what shape this key alien will take. Will he look like a whale? Will he have the capacity for speech?

Ramsay is working with Rory Kinnear on finishing the script for Mobius. The pair worked together on the script for We Need to Talk About Kevin, as well. Ramsay helped write, produced and directed the film adapted from the Lionel Shriver novel. Starring Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin follows the aftermath of a terrible and tragic massacre at a high school.

Steindorff, who produced The Lincoln Lawyer, has also worked with Lynne Ramsay before. This was news to me until I did some research on the upcoming film, Jane Got a Gun. It inspired lots of buzz as it was shopped around during Cannes. Scheduled to begin filming in early 2013, the picture stars Natalie Portman as a woman who asks her ex-lover for help when her new outlaw husband is threatened by a gang out for his blood. This sounds a bit like Ryan Gosling’s Drive plotline. Jane Got a Gun is a Western; however, and will be very high profile, so we should hear much more about it soon. Michael Fassbender is Portman’s co-star and I think that’s a very hot match-up. The pair should really sizzle.

I also think it is good timing to feature another space opera at the box office and for a Moby Dick tale as well. So many people I spoke to where chomping at the bit for a chance to see Prometheus when it premiered.

Shamefully, I never read the classic, Moby Dick. My experience with it comes entirely from pop culture. Recently, in the Mixed Martial Arts film, Warrior, Nick Nolte is listening to the book on tape. In the X-Files, Scully reveals her father, a former Navy Captain, used to call her Starbuck. When she inherits a pet dog for a time, she calls him Queequeg. And of course Battlestar Galactica featured Starbuck and Boomer, names you’ll hear aboard the original Pequod. This much is true: The material lends itself well to sci-fi.