When you have a successful film, you want to keep the team together for the sequel. Unfortunately for the James Bond franchise, it looks as if Skyfall‘s team captain, director Sam Mendes, won’t be coming back for the film’s follow up.

Citing a number of projects already on his schedule, including two stage plays, Mendes told Empire that he would not be returning to take the British secret agent on another globe-trotting adventure -

It has been a very difficult decision not to accept [producers] Michael [G. Wilson] and Barbara [Broccoli]’s very generous offer to direct the next Bond movie. Directing Skyfall was one of the best experiences of my professional life, but I have theatre and other commitments, including productions of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and King Lear, that need my complete focus over the next year and beyond.

Well, this definitely flies in the face of previous reports that Mendes was “75 percent certain to return,” that circulated last month. When discussing that story, I did note that if he were to return for a new franchise installment it would have to wait until he finished with his two stage obligations.

So it’s a mixed bag for Bond fans. The next Bond installment won’t be delayed while Sam Mendes directs two plays, but it also means that Bond 24 won’t be directed by Mendes. Presumably the hunt for a new director is already underway.

Renny Harlin is heading to ancient Greece. He will be directing Millennium’s planned 3D telling of the legends of the Greek demi-god, Hercules.

The $70-million-budgeted film is already in pre-production with a hoped for May shooting start for an anticipated March 2014 release. The script is by Sean Hood and Hanna Weg and in remarks to the Hollywood Reporter, Harlin hints that the film may have a more realistic feel than expected.

It’s not a comic book, cartoony fantasy thing. It’s closer to Gladiator than flying horses.

This isn’t the only Herclues movie that is racing to theaters. MGM is currently developing their own version of the classic myth with director Brett Ratner and to star Dwayne Johnson. MGM’s version is currently scheduled for an Aug. 8, 2014 release.

The director of Die Hard 2 and Cutthroat Island was rather magnanimous about the other project.

I think these are very different kinds of movies in their approach to this legendary character. Obviously, Hercules has been portrayed in many different films, such as the Disney animated movie. I wish them luck. Ancient Greek mythology is an endless source of good stories … Let’s see both movies be successful.

I have to say that Harlin’s attitude is refreshingly nice considering how cut throat (See what I did there?) things usually are in Hollywood.

Hopefully, this will be a hit for Harlin, who has not had a theatrical film hit in some time. Recently, he has been directing episodes of the USA Network series Burn Notice and Covert Affairs.

Screenwriter J Michael Straczynski is making the move into directing. The creator of the classic science-fiction television series Babylon 5 will be helming the World War Two drama The Flickering Light from his own screenplay.

The film will center on the unusual production of the film Tieflans (The Lowlands) by director Leni Riefenstahl, noted for the films she produced for Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. Riefenstahl used inmates from the nearby Marzahn Concentration Camp as unpaid actors and extras in the film.

Straczynski detailed the story to Variety -

‘The Flickering Light’ is based on one of the most surreal and little known chapters of film history and the Second World War itself,” Straczynski said. “During the day, the prisoners were escorted to the studio by armed guard and corralled onto movie sets. They were cleaned up by the largely sympathetic Aryan crew, feasted on food unimaginable to prisoners, then dressed in period Spanish wardrobe as Riefenstahl required ‘authenticity’ on camera. Then after filming each day, returned, once more in rags, to the horror of the camp.”

An adaptation of what was reportedly Hitler’s favorite opera, Riefenstahl worked on the film in stages in 1940, 1942 and 1944, however she did not get around to editing the film right away. At the end of the war, the raw footage was seized by France and it took Riefenstahl several years before the material was returned. Although some footage had been damaged, Riefenstahl was able to complete and edit of the movie and get it released by 1954, where it proved to be a commercial and critical failure. It was the filmmaker’s last project.

The Berlin facility that Riefenstahl shot Tiefland was the renowned German Ufa Film Studios, used by such pre-Nazi German directors such as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau. Now known as Studio Babelsberg, Straczynski plans to shoot on the same stages that Riefenstahl used when production commences in November.

This is not Straczynski’s first project based on a little known historic anecdote. His screenplay for Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling was based on an actual kidnapping case in Los Angeles in the 1930s. He has also received credits for his work on Ninja Assassin, Thor and Underworld: Awakening. He also wrote the first screenplay for the upcoming zombie epic World War Z, though it looks as if his work has been scrapped. He also developed a prequel to the classic science-fiction film Forbidden Planet for Joel Silver, though since there has been no news on the project in a while, I would venture to say that it is dead.

Straczynski’s only previous directing credits were for the Babylon 5 series finale episode “Sleeping In Light,” and a direct-to-video Babylon 5 project called The Lost Tales.

Duncan Jones, director of Moon and Source Code, has been picked to helm Warcraft, the adaptation of the popular online video game World Of Warcraft. Legendary Pictures will be producing the live-action adaptation.

The project is expected to have a budget north of $100 million, making it the biggest budget that Jones has had to work with.

The project has been under development for several years now, with Sam Raimi attached to direct. He dropped out last July in order to concentrate on Oz: The Great And Powerful. In late 2009 when Saving Private Ryan screenwriter Robert Rodat was hired to write an original script, though the Hollywood Reporter is saying that there is now a new version written by Charles Leavitt. Jones has had a in the screenplays for Moon and Source Code so it is possible that he might take a pass through the script himself.

As of now, Warners and Legendary is looking at getting the film in front of cameras next fall for a 2015 release.

Lucasfilm and Disney have decided to officially confirm what we all knew anyway – the J. J. Abrams will be directing Star Wars: Episode VII.

The complete press release the company issued last evening is below, but I would like to point one thing that jumps out to me.

First off, it is noted that screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are consulting on the project. We already know that they are in the process of writing Star Wars scripts that will not be part of this new trilogy but will be spin-off stand alone features. Are Kasdan, Kinberg and Episode VII screenwriter Michael Arndt working as part of some sort of creative committee that will be steering the franchise’s future or are they consulting because their own spin-off films have some direct relation to the upcoming new trilogy?

Star Wars: Episode VII is due in theaters in 2015. Given Abrams’ penchant for secrecy it should be interesting to see how much more we learn about the project between now and then.

J.J. Abrams to Direct Star Wars: Episode VII

J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay.

“It’s very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie,” said Kennedy. “J.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture.”

George Lucas went on to say “I’ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He’s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn’t be in better hands.”

“To be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor,” J.J. Abrams said. “I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.”

J.J., his longtime producing partner Bryan Burk, and Bad Robot are on board to produce along with Kathleen Kennedy under the Disney | Lucasfilm banner.

Also consulting on the project are Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. Kasdan has a long history with Lucasfilm, as screenwriter on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. Kinberg was writer on Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Abrams and his production company Bad Robot have a proven track record of blockbuster movies that feature complex action, heartfelt drama, iconic heroes and fantastic production values with such credits as Star Trek, Super 8, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, and this year’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams has worked with Lucasfilm’s preeminent postproduction facilities, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, on all of the feature films he has directed, beginning with Mission: Impossible III. He also created or co-created such acclaimed television series as Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe.

Sean Hayes will be starring an adaptation of the stage play Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks opposite Gena Rowlands. The play, which centers around a lonely widow who hires a dance teacher to show her how to foxtrot, tango, rhumba, etc., was written by Richard Alfieri, who will also be handling the screenplay. Arthur Allan Seidelman is set to direct.

If there is no major changes from the screenplay, Hayes and Rowlands will be the only two actors in the film.

Although it premiered in Los Angeles, the play had a brief Broadway run where it starred Mark Hammil as dance teacher Michael Minetti and Polly Bergen as Lily Harrison. The show only ran about a month, it’s run cut short by a health issue of Bergen’s. I did manage to see the show and found it enjoyable enough, nothing too extraordinary but nothing too odious either. There is certainly enough story there for Hayes and Rowlands to make a potentially interesting movie.

Via Deadline.

The Weinstein Company is prepping a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee’s 2000 Academy Award-winning martial arts drama.

Deadline is reporting that the production company has a screenplay from The Forbidden Kingdom scripter John Fusco and are in talks with the director of the classic Hong Kong film The Bride With White Hair Ronny Yu to helm. Lee is reportedly not involved in the project.

Fusco’s screenplay is reportedly based on Silver Vase, Iron Knight, the fifth novel in Chinese writer’s Wang Du Lu’s wuxia romance Crane-Iron Pentalogy. Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was based on the fourth novel in the series, though the film did appropriate some plot points from earlier the three earlier novels in the series.

The Crane-Iron books have never been translated into English, but Silver Vase, Iron Knoight focuses on Yu Shu Lien, the character played by Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Fusco explained the plot of the film in broadstrokes to Deadline -

This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil. It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades. It’s so vast and rich, and I found characters from the second and third books in the series to create a most interesting stew while being as true to the source material as I could be.

Casting should get underway once Yu finalizes his deal with the Weinsteins. Fusco states that he expects Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fight choreographer Wo Ping Yuen to return for the film.

Director J J Abrams will be moving from science-fiction franchise to another as word is coming out that the Star Trek director will be helming Disney’s Star Wars: Episode VII. The Wrap is breaking the news based on an anonymous source they describe as “an individual with knowledge of the production.” The Wrap’s source also stated that Ben Affleck had also been in strong contention for the job.

A number of directors had their names floating around the project including Guillermo del Toro, Joss Whedon and Matthew Vaughn, though it appeared as if that was more idle fan chatter than any real talks between the studio and the directors.

Previously, it was reported that Abrams had been approached to direct the first film of the new Star Wars trilogy, but that he had declined due to his commitment to Paramount’s Star Trek franchise. But with the second film in that series due out in a few months, it appears as if he has decided to set his sites on a new challenge. Michael Arndt is currently working on the screenplay and Disney hopes to have the film in theaters in 2015.

Lucasfilm and Disney reps have yet to comment. More as it develops.

Update: Deadline is confirming their story from their own “source with knowledge of the situation.” Although The Wrap beat Deadline to the punch o this by 15 minutes, Deadline doesn’t mention where the story originated. That’s Nikki Finke for you, though.

2nd Update: The LA Times‘s Hero Complex Blog has also confirmed Abrams getting the gig through their sources.

Man did the news this morning of the new American Godzilla remake getting a start date really shake loose more news about the film. Let’s break it down into bullet points -

• First off, before cameras start rolling in March 14th in Vancouver and Hawaii (as clarified by Aint It Cool), the project’s script will be getting one last going over from Frank Darabont. This is, of course, very good news. (Via Deadline.) Previously, Drew Pearce, Max Borenstein and David Goyer had all worked on the screenplay.
• With the screenplay still being worked on, there are no formal offers out to actors to appear in the film. However, last fall the studio did talk with Joseph Gordon-Levitt but he passed back in late November/early December. (Via Hollywood Reporter.)That isn’t to say that the studio and producers aren’t thinking about certain actors who they might approach. Variety’s Justin Kroll has heard a few of the names reportedly in contention -
  

  I’ve heard that other names being considered include Henry Cavill, Scott McNairy and Caleb Landry Jones

  — Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) January 7, 2013

  JGL and Cavill are studio choices, Scoot and Caleb are creative choices

  — Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) January 7, 2013

  With the brass at the studio following the production of Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel which stars Cavill as Superman, their endorsement of him for Godzilla must be good news for Man Of Steel, right?

  McNairy is an interesting choice and he has worked with Edwards before, on the director’s debut film Monsters. Jones is also a good choice but is scheduled to start work on X-Men: Days Of Future Past a month after Godzilla is set to start so I don’t see him being able to take the job.

• The departure of of producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee is a bit more acrimonious sounding that was initially reported. The Hollywood Reporter is stating that although the two were the ones who brought the project to Warner Brothers and financiers Legendary back in early 2010, Legendary was looking to reduce their producer’s fees. When Lin and Lee refused, Legendary began exercising a “pay-or-play” clause in their contracts to remove them from the project. It is possible that the dispute may end up in court, though I don’t think that it will impact the film getting made or released.
• Signing on to the film as a producer is Mary Parent, who brings some giant monster experience with her having worked on Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Pacific Rim. (Via Deadline.)

Back in November, Guillermo Del Toro was one of many directors rumored to be connected to possibly directing the just announced Star Wars: Episode VII. Del Toro dismissed the rumors stating that he had not even been approached about the possibility by Lucasfilm.

That has changed, as Del Toro told The Playlist that he eventually did receive a call from Lucasfilm, but passed on the opportunity.

We got one phone call to my agent saying, ‘Is Guillermo interested?’ And basically I have so much stuff already of my own, and I’m pursuing stuff that I’m generating already.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Del Toro passed, however. The director currently is wrapping up work on next summer’s Pacific Rim and has a number of other projects in various stages of development, anyone of which he could tackle next. To move right into Star Wars would mean to postpone any of these more personal projects for at least two to three years, depending on whether he was going to direct just Episode VII or all of the planned new trilogy. Given the amount of time that Del Toro invested in developing The Hobbit with Peter Jackson with an eye towards directing before ultimately leaving in frustration over delays relating to MGM’s financial crisis, I am not surprised that he doesn’t seem interested in working on a project where he might be beholden to someone else.