Now we've got further news to solidify Guy Ritchie's professional plunge into the crapper. Last year, Martha Fischer posted that the director was slated to re-write and direct the feature, Static, which has been in development for eons over at Original Film (a Sony-based company). Now, what a surprise, Ritchie is out, and Sylvain White has taken over the directorial chair. This could either be a crappy turn for the director, who went from the straight-to-DVD I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer to the popular Stomp the Yard, or a great turn in finally getting this movie out. Either this will be a kink in the director's upward trajectory, or the fresh name needed to get this picture off the ground.

To recap, the film is about a gang leader in L.A. who, along with the help of his gang, has to fight off rival gangs and bad cops to get his butt in the witness chair and testify against some corrupt L.A.P.D. officers. White's thoughts "I am grateful to be working again with the studio that gave me my start," (I assume he means successful film.), "Static offers me the exciting opportunity to paint an innovative near-future youthful reality within a high action-packed framework." It sounds a bit too PR for me, but the guy is still learning. Now we'll have to give the project another year, and see if this actually becomes something, or if the feature continues to cycle through directors and stay firmly planted in Development Hell.

Despite the fact that not a single person (I heard even Madonna thought it was crap) will confess to liking his more recent gangster flick, Revolver, Guy Ritchie is still getting jobs based on the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch (Yeah I know -- I forget they were two different movies, too.). This time, his employer is Columbia Pictures, which has hired Ritchie to rewrite and direct a movie called Static. One guess what it's about: Yes, more gangsters for Guy.

The central figure in Static is a gangster who has been unjustly imprisoned, and is on his way to testify against the bad cops that put him away. Problematically, there are a lot of other bad cops and rival gangsters trying to keep him from doing so. Thus, it's up to the poor, misunderstood gangster and his "loyal posse" to get to the courthouse on their own. So, basically, it's 16 Blocks, except with a posse instead of Bruce Willis, and without Mos Def. Super.

Static has been on the books at Original Film (a Sony-based company that is supervising the film) for years, and has been set up in the past with both Stephen Kay and Chris Robinson (not the Black Crowe, the guy who made ATL) at the helm.