The Strike List - Lots Of Good Stuff Coming

A very well circulated list landed on my e-mail heap a couple of days ago too, but it came while I was very, very busy with school and not able to run any updates. By now, lots of sites have carried the list and commented on what interests them most of all and, funnily enough, some of the bits and pieces that excited me have gone without much mention at all.

The full list, first of all. You can read it at Coming Soon (just to pull one site out of the hat). By now, the list is apparently a couple of week sold, so it may be slightly out of date, but it's a vague list anyway, not a set of concrete projects.

Martin Campbell is listed as attached to two projects: Villain at 2929 and Runaway Train at Fox. I'd have preferred Bond 22 be in his hands, instead of Marc Forster, but that's not going to happen, so hopefully these both can.

The Coens' Serious Man is listed, which suggest they may be preparing to segue directly into that after Burn After Reading wraps. Nice.

Josh Marston is named as the director of Curveball. I'm a huge Marston fan, on the strength of Maria Full of Grace alone, so this has me very interested. It may be the supernatural thriller that JJ Abrams is producing, but I suppose it also may not be - either way, it's a Josh Marston film. That's all I care about right now.

Focus are apparently teaming with Werner Herzog on The Piano Tuner.

Jean Pierre Jeunet's The Life of Pi still appears to be a going concern at Fox 2000. Good. I didn't much care for the book but it's been far too long since Jeunet's stepped foot on set for my liking.

Seth Gordon's Four Christmases looks set to go before his King of Kong fiction film, but that was pretty much known already.

Paramount have an Untitled Cameron Crowe Project - and I'm still head over heels with the last one of those (even if it did eventually get a title, before losing it again for 'the bootleg cut'). If anybody knows anything at all about this film, please tell me.

With no director yet attached, Tokyo Suckerpunch is still revving up at Sony. They also have Nora Ephron's Julie Julia and Jim Sheridan's Brothers.

Over at Universal at Billy Ray's Hurricane Season, Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim - pushing Ant Man to the back of the backmost burner, I imagine - and My Name is Jody Williams from Audrey Wells. After the Crowe, this was the most delightful surprise on the whole list for me - I wasn't entirely convinced Wells would be making many more films, nor in any hurry, but I'm utterly chuffed that she is.

There's a Tim Burton film listed at Warner Bros., entitled Spook's Apprentice. Another surprise listing, at least to me, I know very little of it, though I assume it's an adaptation of the books by Joe Delaney. Again, pass on what info you have.

I believed Richard Curtis was exclusively busy prepping The Boat that Rocked, here listed as Rock the Boat, but the Weinsteins have him down too, for a big screen version of Bernard and the Genie (incorrectly titled Bernard the Genie, but anyway). That should shift a few DVD copies of the BBC original.

Peter Chelsom's Tulip Fever is listed under the Weinstein banner too. I'm very hopeful for that one, though, like all of the other genuinely newsy entries here, I've no idea who is scripting, who might star, or anything much at all. It's a fair bet that this is an adaptation of the book, of course - indeed, I'm sure of it. But that's where my insight ends.

So, that's plenty for me to get worked up about over the next 18 months or so. What caught your eye?

Movie Minesweeper - The Silver Helium Balloon Edition

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, culminating in an evening at the theatre, under the spell of Derren Brown. But I'm back now, and I'm determined to catch up. So expect a few Movie Minesweepers today, to say the least.


- There's a neverending graveyard of movie projects that never came together. Premiere have compiled a 20-strong list of the more interesting, including a number of film ick faves that never were: Mark Romanek's A Cold Case, The Onion Movie (no, really), Ridley Scott's Tripoli, Richard Goleszewski's Tortoise vs. Hare, Cameron Crowe's Phil Spector biopic and, perhaps the greatest loss of them all, Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Premiere have managed to scrounge up status reports on some of the films, and it isn't exclusively bad news.

- Michael Davis already has a script written for a Shoot 'Em Up sequel.

- A new adaptation of Hell House could be on the cards. Could Richard Matheson be the next Phillip K. Dick, getting a whole slew of options sold in the next few years?

- Guillermo Del Toro has told his fans on a forum that Danny Elfman is scoring Hellboy 2. He's also promised 30 distinct creatures in the film.

- The redband trailer for The Brothers Solomon requires age verification.

- Ronald Moore has given a video interview that is up at Collider. The big scoop is that he's working on an I, Robot sequel.

- On a very similar note, Billy Ray has told SciFi that he's scripting a Westworld remake.

- Brian Yuzna has been discussing Beneath Still Waters with UGO, also touching on House of Re-Animator as they chatted. Will we ever get to see it...? Yuzna is optimistic.

- Time magazine are explaining Why Pixar Is Better.

- IESB are reporting that Steve Pink is to direct Fletch Won and... wow.... Joshua Jackson is to play the title role. That's incredible.

Ashes To Ashes Is Now Official

I didn't see last night's last-ever Life on Mars (last ever, that is, until the US remake runs into four seasons at least) and indeed, I haven't seen a single episode but I was picking up a strong Vanilla Sky vibe from the 'clue sheet' in last week's Radio Times. Vanilla Sky with The Sweeney instead of old Bob Dylan record covers.

Of course - spoiler alert - I was absolutely correct and the finale walked a very familiar path by all accounts.

The BBC have now officially announced the sequel, Ashes to Ashes, that was rumoured for quite some time. Here's their description, in it's entirety:

DCI Gene Hunt is back but he's no longer the self-styled "Sheriff of Manchester".

Flanked by his faithful sidekicks, Ray Carling and Chris Skelton, and drawn to the action and intrigue of the London Met, Gene turns his attentions to taking on the "southern nancy" criminal scum.

However, Gene does not expect to be thrown together with sexy, intelligent, DCI Alex Drake.

Single mother to daughter Molly, Alex has rapidly risen through the ranks of the Met and, in the modern world of 2008, skilfully uses psychological profiling to capture suspects.

When Alex and her daughter are kidnapped she makes a daring attempt at escape, resulting in a horrific accident.

Alex suddenly finds herself in 1981 interacting with familiar characters, not just from her own life-time, but also from the detailed reports logged by none other than Sam Tyler, which Alex has previously spent months pouring over.

Alex is ripped from her current world of sexual equality and respect in 2008 and finds herself opposite an arrogant fellow DCI in a Two Tone, New Romantic Eighties London with a soundtrack of Adam Ant, Roxy Music and The Human League ringing in her ears.

Alex finds some of Gene's team has dispersed yet others, loyal as ever, are still in tow.

Now a technological whizz-kid in the squad's surveillance team, DC Chris Skelton has clearly moved with the times, along with a tight-permed DS Ray Carling who's keen to experience London's nightlife.

Frustrated by each other's stubbornness, the friction between Alex and Gene heats up. However, as the two titans collide, it becomes apparent there is more than just a professional tension emerging.

The series' executive producer promises "a touch of Moonlighting teamed with a measure of Miami Vice".

Alex is yet to be cast. Any suggestions?

Interesting to see they've basically decided to simply restart the whole 'am I nuts, in a coma or back in time?' plot all over again. Of course, this time round the viewer will have all sorts of info the characters won't. Interesting, sure, but I think series creator Matthew Graham owes both Alejandro Amenebar and Cameron Crowe some sincere thanks.

The Year Of The Apatow

It seems like this is Judd Apatow's year. The next comedy he is producing has been announced - A Whole New Hugh - adding to an already heavy slate of pet projects he isn't even directing himself, and it looks like he's gotten the studio execs eating out of the palm of his hand.

I remember the first inkling I got that 40 Year Old Virgin might be something special. There was an article in Creative Screenwriter which discussed Apatow and Carrell's approach to writing - and they had a very sensible approach, truthful, structured and logical and definitely dedicated to quality. They really seemed to know what they were doing.

Even still, the film surprised me hugely. It was probably my favourite film of 2005, though not the one I would say was 'best, necessarily'. Not quite, anyway.

And now comes Knocked Up. I must be one of a handful to have not seen this at some kind of advance screening somewhere, and I am bitterly jealous of the billions who have. If Apatow and company have nailed this one as squarely as I've been told, then that pretty much cements the director's standing. Judd Apatow appears to be the new Billy Wilder. Well, if Cameron Crowe wasn't the new Billy Wilder, anyway. The other new Billy Wilder.

The key difference, time and place aside, is that Wilder didn't produce a massive heap of secondary projects that he himself wasn't directing. As I was worrying about above, Apatow's plate is looking pretty full - You Don't Mess With the Zohan, A Whole New Hugh, Walk Hard, Attorneys At Raw. For the moment at least, Apatow seems to be a one-man greenlight machine, launching films he finds interesting, giving leg-ups to the talent he admires. Lucky fellow - and that goes for his admirees too.

When will it end? Well, I expect it to be dialled down rather quickly. If Zohan or Attorneys, say, winds up a big money loser, that will probably see Apatow's wings clipped. But his primary career (I'm supposing) as a writer-director would still be safe. Curtailing that anytime soon would take Knocked Up to flop, and I'm confidently predicting that it won't.

Indeed, I'm confidently predicting over $100 million in domestic takings.

My main point, however, is that we're living in the time that Judd Apatow is actually working. and not looking back on it like some kind of golden era, as I've had to with Wilder, Preston Sturgess or even the 'first-half Mel Brooks'. Apatow is going to be treasured for decades but right now, he might be seen as 'just another Hollywood comedy director', if a particularly good one. It seems to take a whole lot of wasted time for studio films to get their due respect, while 'independent' films, of course, come under (typically unjust) consideration immediately.

Why are we surprised that the big, cash-rich companies can afford the talent to make most of the best films and make them well? For an independent film to meet the best studio productions on every level there's a ridiculous amount of luck required - principally involving good cast and crew being available at that budget level.

These 'Hollywood' folk make more of the truly great films than any other single 'industry' on the globe. They certainly don't make them all, and they also make an almost incomprehensible amount of dreck too, but there's no sense in knocking 'Hollywood' so quick-and-easily all of the time.

Ewan McGregor Heavier Than Heaven?

The Daily Express have reported that Ewan McGregor is the frontrunner to play Kurt Cobain in Heavier than Heaven. The film, produced by Courtney Love, is based upon Charles Cross' book of the same name and is supposedly being lined up as a future project for Michael Winterbottom.

McGregor made for a pretty good Iggy Pop in Velvet Goldmine and, frankly, anything that keeps Michael Pitt out of the Kurt Cobain role is probably a good thing. On the other hand, this is a story from a tabloid newspaper, and a British one at that, so Serve With Salt.

The Express claims that a number of actors have been engaged in talks but for obvious reasons Love wants McGregor more so than any of the others. Actually, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him sign if the film goes ahead any time soon.

In a recent interview in Pop magazine, Courtney Love discussed the possibilty of Frances Bean - Love and Cobain's daughter - taking up acting. Apparently, Frances Bean doesn't fancy it - unless Cameron Crowe comes calling. I'd prbably act in a film if Cameron asked me, come to think of it. He does have a knack of making 'traditionally less capable' performers honestly shine. If Love's lucky and smart, she'd end up with Cameron writing and directing, and leave Winterbootm far behind.