Her first Hollywood production (Things We Lost in the Fire) didn't pan out so good, but perhaps Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier will do better with romantic comedy than with serious drama. She's set to direct Lost for Words, a Universal Pictures release that may star the bumbling Brit Hugh Grant and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. With such diverse international talent , it's easy to imagine that the movie's title will also be a good description of the set between takes.

The plot of Lost for Words actually has to do with film set communications. Grant is in negotiations to play a movie star appearing in a film directed by a Chinese woman (Zhang). He develops feelings for her, but unfortunately he initially becomes involved with her flirtatious translator. So, if he's to confess his love for the non-English-speaking filmmaker, he must do so through this other woman, whose heart he must first break. I guess he isn't aware that love is a universal language and he could simply just point to his heart and then to her and then they can have a perfect, wordless affair.

Lost for Words was scripted by Jamie Curtis (Spice World) and Oscar nominee Dan Mazer (Borat). Bier is also kind of an Oscar nominee; her last Scandinavian production, After the Wedding, was up for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2007 Academy Awards.

In case you haven't noticed, I can get pretty vocal about my skepticism. One thing I often complain about is the immigration of talented foreign filmmakers, who come over and make disappointing English-language debuts. I won't name names this time around, but you know it is common. Now, the great Dane Susanne Bier announced her own debut long ago, and the film, Things We Lost in the Fire, is actually due next month and it could actually be decent (even with Halle Berry). Then there's her English-language screenplay debut (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher), The Duchess, which is being directed by Saul Dibb and which stars Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. That will probably be pretty good, too. But her newly announced second film in English, well, that could be awful.

According to Variety, Bier has signed to helm Lost for Words, a romantic comedy or something about a movie star who falls in love with a Chinese actress and her female translator. I'm not sure if its a love triangle thing or a threesome thing or what, but it was scripted by Jamie Curtis, who co-wrote Spice World, so it is sure to be hokey. Now, I make no secret of the fact that I love Spice World. Doesn't matter, I still think this is going to be bad, if only because of my skeptical prejudice. The movie has some more British talent involved, too; it will be produced by Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis, along with Mr. Bean's Holiday (and Hot Fuzz) producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

In her native Danish language, Bier last gave us After the Wedding, which was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year. She's also the director of festival hits Open Hearts (aka Dogme #28) and Brothers, both of which are being remade into English. Zach Braff (Garden State) is tackling the former while Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) is helming the latter. We'll just have to wait and see what translates better, her films or her filmmaking skills.

With only a week away from announcing the Oscar nominations, and with no apparent need to do so, the Academy has pared down its list of eligible foreign-language films from 61 to nine. This is the first time the Academy has shortlisted the category, but the decision to do so falls in line with a number of other changes pertaining to the category.

Those changes, which I told you about last summer, are a good thing for at least two of the nine films. Water and Black Book each would have been disqualified in previous years, but now their language issues are in full compliance with the rules. Of course, had they not made the cut, there might have been some happier countries in Asia or Australia, the two continents not represented (Antarctica may get some love from Happy Feet's animation nomination). It is too bad that Japan couldn't claim Golden Globe winner Letters From Iwo Jima and also too bad for Oz that Ten Canoes wasn't chosen.