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.

Let’s face it, the studios all hope that any new film they release will be successful enough to spawn a franchise. It should come as no surprise then that Paramount has plans to expand their upcoming adaption of Max Brooks’ zombie novel World War Z into a trilogy if the film turns out to be a hit.

The news comes from a LA Times interview with World War Z star and producer Brad Pitt, with the paper describing the film’s tone as having “the grounded, gun-metal realism of, say, [Matt] Damon’s Jason Bourne [film] series tethered to the unsettling end-times vibe of AMC’s The Walking Dead.”

In the film, direct by Quantum Of Solace‘s Marc Forster, Pitt is playing Gerry Lane, a UN fact finder racing to the cause of a zombie outbreak that threatens the globe.

Given the nature of Brooks’ book, there is certainly a lot of material to plumb for potential sequels. For the uninitiated, the book is presented as a collection of records, interviews and documents gathered after the zombie outbreak had been contained that attempts to explain how the situation spread out of control. The original screenplay for the project by J. Michael Straczynski kept this conceit and had its main character traveling the country collecting the stories and documents that are found in the book. Reportedly, script rewrites from Matthew Michael Carnahan have given the film a more straightforward narrative structure, which I have to confess I find the prospect of a bit disappointing. If enough people by tickets next December following the film’s release we’ll get to see how they intend to take the book and flesh out a further story.

Harlan Ellison has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the upcoming Justin Timberlake-starring science-fiction thriller In Time, claiming copyright infringement.

The science-fiction writer alleges that t he film’s concept has been liberally cribbed from his short story “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Tick Tock Man.” Ellison’s story tells of a dystopian future where time is strictly regulated and merely the act of being late for something is a criminal offense. In Time tells of a near-future world where time has become a currency which leads to people selling years off of their lives to the upper class.

According to Deadline, who broke the story, Ellison is seeking to have the have the film’s October 28th release blocked.

While I’ll admit that it has been years since I last read “Repent,” I’m not so sure that there are enough similarities between the two stories to constitute infringement. But then again, Ellison not only has a history of filing such lawsuits, he has a history of winning such legal actions. You need look no further than the suit he filed against James Cameron and the producers of the first Terminator movie claiming that the film “borrowed” heavily from two stories he had originally written for the Outer Limits television anthology series.

Recently, Ellison optioned the film rights to the short story to J. Michael Straczynski, who is spearheading an attempt to get it on the big screen.

Ellison famously wrote the short story in 1965 in a single six-hour session as a submission to a Milford Writer’s Workshop.

Is London about to be overrun with zombies?

The folks over at Bleeding Cool seem to think so as they are reporting from unnamed sources that Paramount’s World War Z is set to film in London and at Pinewood Studios in the fall.

Not much more information than that is known, but if true, it suggests that Paramount has finally worked out their financial concerns with the project’s $125 million price tag. Two weeks ago, the studio was looking for a co-financier to split the cost of production. Last week, it looked as if they had found such a partner in David Ellison and his production company Skydance, who was already working with Paramount on their upcoming films Mission: Impossible IV and Top Gun II.

Based on Max Brooks classic novel, World War Z will tell the story of a man trying to piece together exactly how a zombie uprising almost destroyed the war. Brad Pitt is set to star and producer through his company Plan B. Quantum Of Solace‘s Marc Foster is set to direct.

World War Z is just one of a number of high profile zombie projects in development around Hollywood at the moment. They include a sequel to Zombieland, new installments in the 28 Days Later and Resident Evil franchises,  two scripts that were on last year’s Black List – The Kitchen Sink, which has Jonah Hill attached to direct, and Boy Scouts Vs Zombies – and Paul Is Undead, a comedy which retells the story of the Beatles as if they were zombies.

Babylon 5 creator and The Changeling screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski has reported on his Facebook page that he recently completed filming a short cameo appearance for Marvel Studios’ upcoming comic book adaptation Thor.

One other piece of fun: I did a cameo on the new Thor movie. It was supposed to be just a ten second deal, but director Kenneth Branagh decided (against the evidence) that I can act, so he kept putting me in more bits. We’ll see what ends up on the cutting room floor, but it was a lot of fun.

In addition to his television and film writing, Straczynski has been scripting comic books over the past several years, having just completed a well-received run on Thor. He hinted that his role was related to something from his own run on the book.

I can’t comment on the role or anything specific to the story or characters out of deference to the production. All I can say is that it was something drawn from my tenure writing the Thor comic…so basically I’ve finally disappeared into my own narrative. Knew that would happen one of these days.

Straczynski now joins a rather small group of comics creators who have appeared in big screen comic book adaptations. Stan Lee, one of the key architects of the Marvel Comics universe and the publisher’s very public face for decades, has appeared in many of the films featuring characters he had created or co-created. Writer Chris Claremon can be spotted in the third X-Men film, fittingly as the movie’s plot liberally lifted many of its ideas from the “Dark Phoenix Saga” storyline, which Claremont co-created with artist John Byrne. Writer/director Kevin Smith is another Hollywood figure who has worked in comics. His critically acclaimed run on Daredevil would have portions adapted into the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck, earning Smith a small role as a New York City morgue attendant. Writer/ artist Frank Miller, whom many consider to have authored the definitive version of Daredevil, also appeared in the film. Miller would make the jump to director, giving himself walk-ons in the his films Sin City (co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and based on Miller’s graphic novel series) and The Spirit.

This will be Straczynski’s second on-screen appearance. For the final episode of his groundbreaking science-fiction series Babylon 5, he appeared as a technician shutting down the power on the newly decommissioned titular space station.

1. Old Dogs (Disney, 3,425 Theaters, 88 Minutes, Rated PG): You know you are in trouble when the ads said “Brought to you by the makers of Wild Hogs.” I actually saw Wild Hogs in the movie theaters. As I recall, the film had a better cast than it deserved and a plot that redefined formulaic.

I expect the same from this one. Heck, even the names are similar. The plot revolves around two aging bachelors who through movie magic become responsible for the care and welfare of two young kids.

I don’t know about you, but if the gags you find represent your movie so well that the need to be in the trailer concern a prescription medication mix-up (and what prescription med causes you sense of depth perception to go off kilter?) and Seth Green being cuddled by a gorilla, the film is in trouble.

2. Ninja Assassin (Warner Brothers, 2,703 Theaters, 99 Minutes, Rated R): Of course, “From the makers of V for Vendetta” might not, for some, be better than “from the makers of Wild Hogs“. But I like that movie quite a bit.

That isn’t the only thing going for it. Rumor has it that the Wachowski Brothers, the producers of this film, hired Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to do a complete rewrite in the script. That is a good thing, although the need for a total rewrite is not.

This film smells like a video game adaptation, but I cannot find anything to confirm this. Granted , I didn’t look too hard, but still. It details a man raised to be, well, a ninja assassin who makes a break from the clan that trained him and plots his revenge.

3. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (FOX, 2,033 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated PG): If you wanted to, you probably could go see all three movies opening tomorrow in just over 4 and a half hours. Keep that in mind if you feel the need to get away from your relatives on Thursday.

There are natural comparissions between Where the Wild Things Are and this film. Both are classic kid writing brought to the screen by two indie film auteurs, Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson.

But this one is done in stop-motion animation, a method of animation not done too often nowadays. And it has a pretty good voice cast of Oscar winners and Anderson regulars. Considering the other releases going wide today, it might not be a bad alternative for your Thanksgiving viewing pleasure.

At last year‘s Wizard World Philadelphia comic convention, World War Z author Max Brooks was excited that J. Michael Straczynski was penning the big screen adaptation of his zombie apocalypse novel for Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment. As a fan of Straczynski’s science-fiction series Babylon 5, Brooks stated that he was “thrilled that they hired a writer who not only understands science fiction, but who also understands history and politics and emotions.”

In the intervening 12 months between then and this afternoon, Straczynski had turned in two drafts and Quantum Of Solace director Marc Forster was attached to the project. And in the last few days, reports have begun circulating that Forster feels that the script needs further work and is looking for a new writer.

Brooks confirmed that this was the situation earlier today, when we talked to him on the convention floor at this year’s Wizard World Philadelphia convention. Brooks was appearing to help promote the upcoming publication of his Zombie Survival Guide graphic novel coming in October from Avatar Press and Random House.

“I believe they have a new writer on board,” Brooks stated. Then adding with a hint of sarcasm, “Because you know, Straczynski apparently can’t write science-fiction, so naturally they need a new guy.”

But besides knowing that a new screenwriter is being brought aboard, Brooks confesses to not knowing too much more about what is going on behind the scenes with the film.

“It’s still rolling along,” he said. “They renewed the option on it, so apparently they still want to make it. But that’s about all I know.”

And although he wrote for Saturday Night Live for two seasons, if Plan B were to approach him to take a crack at the screenplay himself, Brooks stated that he would definitely pass on the opportunity.

“Never,” he stated emphatically. “I don’t want to go near that movie. They’re going to kill my baby and I don’t want to help them.”

Update: Straczynski also addressed the issue of the World War Z script this weekend in an online post-

This is just part of the feature business, especially once a director comes on board, who may have ideas of his own that he wants to incorporate and the original writer has gone through all the contractual drafts, so that either you re-hire the same guy, or bring in fresh eyes.

So yes, another pair of hands is now working to simplify the script, which has always been as much a political thriller as an action film, into something a bit more straightforward.

Thanks to Jan S. for pointing us  towards the JMS quote.

Scripter J. Michael Straczysnki and the higher-ups at Warner Brothers have decided to trash the writer’s first pass at drafting a follow-up/sequel/ to the classic Forbidden Planet and start over from scratch. The do-over is not due to a question of quality in the writing, but due to the fact that details of the storyline had already started to leak, even though actual production on the project has yet to be greenlit.

As Straczynski stated last week in a post on the moderated news for Babylon 5, the ground-breaking television series he created-

Meanwhile, on a wholly different note…not of triumph but of annoyance….because so much of the Forbidden Planet screenplay was leaked out, Warners and I have decided to chuck the screenplay in its entirety and start over. This is the direct result of the leaks that showed up on the nets, including detailed script reviews of a project that was barely a week old, and which would effectively destroy any anticipation of the movie because by the time it finally reached the screen in 2010 or thereabouts, the story would be old news. So we’re starting fresh, and we’re going to keep a tight lid on the script this time.

So to the sites that say, “Where’s the harm, it’s not like they’re gonna toss out the script because we blew the contents of same all over the nets,” well, yes, that’s exactly what it’s like, and it’s precisely your responsibility that a year’s worth of work was destroyed.

So we start anew, with the determined hope that the next draft will be even better, and far more secure, than the last one.

While a fan of JMS’ since Babylon 5 first premiered more than 15 years ago, I think this is a bit of an overreaction on everyone’s part.

Script reviews and spoiler leaks are a fact of life in the online journalism world. High profile film projects are going to attract attention, and a film like Warners’ Forbidden Planet project definitely falls into that category. And let’s not forget the fact that JMS himself stoked curiosities when he stated that the film will be “something no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline.”

Other films have moved forward even when their scripts have been discussed online. Heck, a rave review of Will Farrell and Adam McKay’s Anchorman script from Drew McWeeny on AintItCoolNews got it unstuck from development hell and in front of the cameras. Of course, McWeeny also famously panned J. J. Abrams’ Superman script, stirring up so much fan bile that Warners junked the thing and started over. McWeeny even posted a rave review of JMS’ adaptation of World War Z, with no peep or protest made.

But is it right or wrong to run stories that spill script details at such early stages? I really don’t know. I’ve felt good about running the script reviews that have appeared here for various reasons. I have two more such pieces lined up for next week. But then again, there are a few scripts that I have read that I have refrained from reviewing.

I don’t believe that JMS is rewriting because he wasn’t happy with the original results. Over the years, he has impressed me as someone who would flat out state that he was unhappy with how something turned out and that he was going to take another crack at it. I don’t begrudge him wanting to take a second pass through the script. But to say that a do-over was necessary because a couple thousand out of a potential few million ticket buyers heard about some of the film’s plot points a year or two before the film hits seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

One of the long-range projects that I’ve been keeping an eye on has been the in development remake of the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet. Not only is it one of my favorite films, but the scripter currently working on the film is one of my favorite writers, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.

Having already dismissed rumors that the film would be a sequel, Straczynski spoke with MTV Movies Blog and gave out some more clues as to what his take on the project would be.

I told [producer] Joel [Silver] this is how you do Forbidden Planet without pissing on the original that no one has ever thought of. When I told [the idea] to him, his eyes lit up. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not exactly a prequel. You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline… [When coming] up with the Krell backstory and who they are, I sat down with some of the nation’s best minds in astrophysics and planetary geology and A.I. and asked them — based on what we know now — what will a million years from now look like? The goal is to put things in there you’ve never seen before.

The interview clears up at least one minor mystery for fans of the writer. Several months back, Straczynski mentioned on line that he was in the process of talking with several scientists and futurists in relation to a project that he couldn’t mention at the time. Of course, this raises the question of what did he learn from these scientists and how is that going to come into play in his screenplay. And what does it mean when he states that the film “isn’t a reimaging” and not “exactly a prequel”? Is it a second story that takes place concurrently with the original movie?

Marc Forster, whose Bond installment Quantum Of Solace opens in theaters today, has been hired by Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B to direct their adaptation of the Max Brooks zombie apocalypse novel World War Z.

Brooks’ book is a faux collection of government reports and eyewitness accounts from survivors of a world wide zombie plague. The adaptation was written by Changeling-screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski, which Brooks found “really cool” as he is a fan of Straczynski’s classic science-fiction television series Babylon 5. To join the various narratives in the film together, Straczynski’s script utilizes a government official character who is slowly compiling the documents and stories featured in the book.

No cast is currently attached to the project.

Via Variety.