The film garnered Francis Ford Coppola Oscar nods for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. It's ranked at #184 out of IMDb's Top 250. And now, after 34 years, The Conversation might be headed for television. Variety reports that AMC is looking to develop a series based on the film, as part of the decade-long efforts of producer Tony Krantz. Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers) have been tapped to write a new script.

The interesting twist in this tale -- it won't be a modernized version. "The TV project will be set in the early 1970s -- emulating the time period of the original thriller -- and center on electronic surveillance expert Harry Caul, played in the film by Gene Hackman." Krantz says that the film will look at our present issues with privacy and spying, through the filter of the '70s.

However, this isn't yet set in stone. The project previously failed to get off the ground at ABC, and before that, it almost came to fruition at NBC with the one and only Kyle MacLachlan starring. After the likes of The Lives of Others and Red Road, the project certainly fits -- but should it be directly tied to Coppola's film? Rant or rave in the comments.

I'm delighted by today's news that UA is apparently pleased enough with what they've seen of Valkyrie that they've signed screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie to a first look deal. The Usual Suspects is one of my favorite films -- the kind of film that will make me overlook a guy not doing anything of note for the next ten to twelve years of his career -- and what little I've heard about Valkyrie so far has put it at the top of my must-see list for 2008. It's got Carice van Houten, for starters, which should be enough to get anyone into the multiplex. The actual terms of McQuarrie's deal are known only to him and United Artists COO Xenu, but The Hollywood Reporter's writeup says that there are currently "several projects under discussion." One of them, we know, will not be the Alexander the Great biopic that McQuarrie spent much time on, only to be beaten to the punch by Oliver Stone's worst movie ever, and yes, I've seen U-Turn and it's great by comparison.

McQuarrie is currently prepping The Stanford Prison Experiment, a film based on a famous behavioral study conducted at Stanford in the 70s in which students had to play the roles of guards and prisoners and things got out of hands. For some reason, this doesn't really ring my bell -- I can't see how it will work as a sensible movie -- but one thing I love about McQuarrie is his fascination with history and I'm crossing my fingers that he'll use this deal to get his John Wilkes Booth screenplay into the development cycle immediately. What little I know of the script is that people who read it a couple of years ago were floored by it and that its development seemed to follow the same trajectory as the Alexander script -- it was written, it was tossed around and toyed with by some A-list actors and then dropped because of competition concerns. But unless it's flown under my radar, I don't know of any competing Booth film that has made it to the filming stage, so why not do it now? And seriously, raise your hand if you'd rather see McQuarrie's John Wilkes Booth biopic than Steven Spielberg's Lincoln biopic. Just like I thought -- every hand in the room.

Three people I'll admit to being a fan of: Harvey Milk; Gus Van Sant; Sean Penn. Yet for some reason I'm not really looking forward to Van Sant's Milk, a biopic of openly gay politician Harvey Milk, in which Penn will play the title role. Mostly (and I said this when Penn was first attached) I can't see the cranky actor playing the typically smiling San Francisco city supervisor, who was assassinated by a co-worker in 1978. Sure, Penn is a terrific actor who can play nearly any kind of role. But Harvey Milk? I'll believe it when I see it. If you haven't already seen the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, and you are looking forward to Milk, you might as well save the doc to watch after seeing the Hollywood version ...

... Or, this Hollywood version, at least. There are two. The other one, titled The Mayor of Castro Street, is supposed to be directed by The Usual Suspects' Bryan Singer. But according to Variety, Mayor is stuck "in strike limbo" -- Christopher McQuarrie's script is reportedly finished but failed to be submitted pre-strike. So, Milk will definitely be the first to be filmed, and therefore will likely be the first to hit theaters. Traditionally, the first of dueling biopics wins the better box office (see Capote vs. Infamous), so Mayor may not even want to bother. Unless it gets a much better actor to play Milk -- and who knows a better actor who also resembles Milk more than Penn? As much as I dislike Penn in the role, I don't see anyone else fitting the part (I'd rather just let Times be the only Milk movie). At one point, Matt Damon was also lightly attached to Milk, but the latest news makes no mention of Damon playing assassin and fellow S.F. City Supervisor Dan White, who he would be perfect as. If he were still set to play the film's villain, I would be totally into it, but without him, I'm really fearful.

It didn't start off too smoothly, but it looks like Valkyrie, the thriller about Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg's attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II, has found it's groove. As things got going, Stauffenberg's offspring were complaining about Tom Cruise playing Claus, there were issues in securing locations, and even extras hurt on set. For the last little while, however, things seem to be going smoothly, and now MGM has released a featurette for the film over at apple.com.

It's a pretty slick clip, not one of those grainy, behind-the-scenes glimpses shot on a hand-held. Writer Christopher McQuarrie talks about the man at the center of the story, and how the film is split up. He says that the first half of the movie will focus on who the players are, while the second half will focus solely on the "July 20 Plot" to take Hitler's life. Kenneth Branagh is a one-man PR machine through much of it, and even describes how the script made his palms sweaty with excitement. Either he's overly exuberant, or that bodes well for the film, since they have to work against what we already know -- that the attempt failed.

The featurette shows all the main players in the film, although I really would've liked to see something on Stephen Fry or David Bamber, and they've done quite a job on Eddie Izzard. Apparently, everyone is "pitch perfect" in their roles, and they show the side-by-side of von Stauffenberg and Cruise, which is pretty spot-on, but it would've been nice to see the others. All in all, it's looking to be a slick thriller -- and with that cast, it would be a shame if it wasn't.

If you've never seen the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, you should lend it your attention. Aside from being a great film, about a homosexual politician in 1970s San Francisco who was assassinated by a co-worker, it needs to be seen before Milk's image is tainted by Sean Penn. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Penn is set to play Milk in a biopic to be directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho). Now, I admit Penn is a great actor, but he just doesn't have that nice-guy charm that Milk had. Instead, Penn is good for serious, brooding characters. Milk was all smiles, and Penn's smile is not nearly as pleasing. Also attached to the film is Matt Damon, who will play Milk's assassin and fellow SF City Supervisor, Dan White (hopefully Damon will wear a dimple-chin prosthetic).

For those wondering, no, this isn't the Milk biopic that we've been hearing about for awhile being made at Warner Bros. That long-planned project, being scripted by Christopher McQuarrie and to be directed by Bryan Singer, is waiting on the production of the duo's Valkyrie -- and maybe even on The Man of Steel. But we did learn of this rival production back in April. Now, if Van Sant can fast track his version, it will take the lead and the advantage. Plans are to begin filming in December with a script penned by Dustin Lance Black (TV's Big Love), though apparently if the untitled film doesn't finalize a shoot date soon, Damon may not stay on board (too bad; he's perfectly cast). The project is being produced by American Beauty's Oscar-winners Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks with financing coming from producer Michael London (Sideways) and his Groundswell Productions. They are currently in talks with one of the major specialty divisions about distribution.

There aren't a whole lot of WWI veterans left (I think there's less than a handful of Americans), which is a shame with Memorial Day coming up since many people aren't familiar with the significance of that Great War. It certainly hasn't helped that Hollywood -- the history textbook writer for many young Americans -- hasn't been interested in the first World War as a subject for a long time. The studios used to produce great WWI films like Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front and Sergeant York. Then WWII came along and became the more popular war, with its definite villain, Adolph Hitler. Meanwhile the best WWI movie we've gotten in awhile (from the U.S., anyway) is the terribly cartoon-like Flyboys, which actually had to be made independently.

There's hope on the horizon, though, as a new WWI epic is being written by Christopher McQuarrie. The screenwriter of The Usual Suspects and the upcoming WWII movie Valkyrie, McQuarrie is interested in making a film that not only depicts the Great War, but also explains it. His script, titled No Man's Land (not to be confused with the German WWI film Niemandsland or the recent foreign Oscar-winner No Man's Land) focuses on the stories of three soldiers who stand in to illustrate the reasons for their nation's involvement in the war. One is an American who fights first for the French Legion and then for the U.S.; one is a Brit who is wrongly accused of being a coward; and the third is a German trench dweller.

I'm sure most of the mega-brilliant Cinematical readers remember a German thriller from a few years back called Das Experiment (that's German for "The Experiment," by the way). It came from Oliver Hirschbiegel, who'd go on to direct the excellent Hitler flick Downfall and get semi-direct The Invasion before getting booted off the project by irate producers. Well, if you remember that movie (Das Experiment, keep up) or you happen to know about the 1971 "Stanford Prison Experiment," then you'll be happy to know that Christopher McQuarrie (a.k.a. the guy who wrote The Usual Suspects) will soon be making his own movie about the case.

The experiment involved segregating a bunch of college students into "guards" and "prisoners" -- and let's just say things got ugly. Mr. McQuarrie will also direct the film, which is something he hasn't done since 2000's The Way of the Gun. According to Variety, Icon Entertainment has just purchased the international sales rights, which means it'll most likely net a North American distributor some time relatively soon. Cast members include Giovanni Ribisi, Paul Dano, Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin and Channing Tatum. Production begins in October. And yep, they'll be shooting a good deal of the film at Stanford University. (And if you haven't seen Das Experiment yet, definitely consider it worthy of a Netflix placement.)

Tom Cruise has been alienating a lot of people lately, so what better way to get on their good side than by trying to kill Hitler? Production begins this summer on an untitled World War II thriller, starring Cruise and directed by Bryan Singer. The film will be based on actual events, and is said to be about German generals who hatch a scheme to assassinate Hitler at the height of WWII. Cruise and Paula Wagner (who looks like she's blowing up a building with her mind in her imdb photo), recently took over the re-launched United Artists, and they've got a pretty smart strategy for turning the studio around: Have Cruise star in everything!

This is the second film "The New UA" has announced that Cruise will appear in, the other being Lions for Lambs, in which he stars with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, who will also direct. Wagner says "After reading the script, Tom and I knew immediately that this was a film we had to make. As an added bonus, because of Bryan Singer's involvement and Tom's admiration for him as a filmmaker, as well as the excellence of the script, the project attracted Tom as an actor. I cannot think of a more perfect combination of creative elements for our second production." All that is known about what part Cruise will be playing is that it is a "central role." After Cruise's brogue in Far and Away, here's hoping he's not playing a German. Accents don't seem to be a strong suit of his.

Singer is said to have just enough time to fit this in before beginning production on the sequel to Superman Returns (The Return of Superman Returns?), which may or may not happen anyway. Gotta say, this movie sounds like it could be very cool, and I for one am thrilled to see Singer getting away from superheroes. And great news for you Keyser Soze fans, the thriller will be Singer's reunion with Usual Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote the script with Nathan Alexander.

In 1971, a professor at Stanford University named Philip Zimbardo conducted an infamous psychological experiment on the psychology of incarceration. The experiment involved volunteers playing the roles of guards and inmates while living in a mock prison. It didn't take long for this test to degenerate into chaos -- the "inmates" of the experiment staged an uprising in response to physical, mental and even sexual torture they had experienced. In the end, the experiment was shut down prematurely, but it did manage to demonstrate how impressionable we all are when provided with a legitimate reason for inflicting distress on another person. More importantly, it was a scary example of the power of authority.

Variety has announced that the film version depicting the Stanford Prison Experiment has attached a director. Christopher McQuarrie will helm the real-life drama for Maverick Films this April. Although credited with writing the screenplay for The Usual Suspects, McQuarrie has only directed one film so far -- unfortunately, that film was The Way of The Gun. Maverick films have also bought the rights to Zimbardo's book The Lucifer Effect - Understanding How Good People Turn Evil , which doesn't hit the shelves until March.

The timing for the film couldn't be better, with questions of torture and cruelty in the news on a regular basis – hey, it could even be shown as a double bill with Errol Morris' new film. Whaddya think?

[via Dark Horizons]

We reported a while back about the planned remake of Logan's Run, the best movie ever made about a world where no one is allowed to live beyond the age of 30. The film was expected to feature a reunion of The Usual Suspects team director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie, but Singer's work on Superman Returns sort of took the attention away from the Logan's Run conversation. During a WonderCon panel over the weekend, however, Singer talked about the remake, and confirmed that it is, in fact, in the works. He and McQuarrie are finishing the screenplay, but it sounds as if there's a lot of work left to do - Singer tentatively suggested that the movie would be ready in 2008.

Without offering many details about the film's plot or look, the director indicated his work won't be a straight remake. Instead, it will combine elements from the book and the 1976 film, as well as Singer's "own concepts." In addition, he told listeners that his Logan's Run would "[take] place in a unique environment, one we haven't seen in...a mainstream movie before," whatever that means.

So, depending on your perspective on this remake, this news is either reassuring or devastating. Personally, I can't decide - I adore the movie as it stands, and was initially horrified at the thought of anyone trying to make it again. But Singer and McQuarrie made a pretty fun flick the last time they worked together, and I suppose there's hope that they could bring the right attitude to Logan's Run, as well. Of course, we've got two years to mull it over, there's really no need to decide right now how good/bad it's going to be.