It seems like a lifetime or two has passed since Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade. There's been a marriage to Angelina Jolie, teamed with super-romantic blood vials, and a whole slew of acting gigs from A Simple Plan to The Astronaut Farmer. He also had two other directing stints -- All the Pretty Horses in 2000 and Daddy and Them in 2001.

Now Cinema Blend reports that he's getting back to the director's chair with two new projects, and explained why it has taken him so long to do so. It seems that Billy Bob did not enjoy working with ol' Harvey Weinstein on Horses, and that experience has kept him from getting back behind the camera. But now, with deals contingent upon him retaining total control of both projects, he's trying again. He says one is locked, and the other is close to a deal.

The first is some book adaptation that he didn't say much about, but the second idea focuses on Floyd Collins. It's a pretty wild story about a caver in the '20s who was trapped in some underground caves and became the first world-wide media sensation, well before the days of Jessica McClure, or reality TV. Thornton says: "the reason I want to make the movie is I want to make the movie about human nature. It's human nature to want to see other people suffer for entertainment. That's why we have reality television. That's why every time there's somebody trapped in a hole, everybody's interested." I just wonder if it will detail the creepy stuff later -- like displaying the poor dude's body at the cave.

In 1925, a spelunker (best word ever) named Floyd Collins got stuck in a cave in Kentucky. He was there for almost two weeks, and the resulting 1920s-style news frenzy was apparently one of the first such events, highlighted by "hourly radio bulletins and...nationwide newspaper headlines." Taking a book on the events by Robert Murray and Roger Brucker as his inspiration, Billy Bob Thornton's long-time writing partner Tom Epperson has adapted a screenplay for a Floyd Collins feature; Thornton is expected to both direct and star in the picture for Paramount.

Thornton, who has only directed two films - the little-seen Daddy and Them and 2000's tepidly-reviewed All the Pretty Horses - since he burst onto the scene with Sling Blade has yet to prove that his success with that film wasn't a fluke. The Floyd Collins story is a fascinating one; hopefully Thornton's film will be, as well. (As an aside, there's also a musical about Collins - anyone seen it?)