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.

I've always thought of Working Title, the U.K. production company, as making frothy British romantic comedies, from The Tall Guy to Four Weddings to Love Actually and, er, Shaun of the Dead. I didn't realize how many other kinds of films Working Title has been behind, including many of the Coens' projects, last year's United 93, and the upcoming Smokin' Aces, which is about as far as you can get from romantic comedy. Nor did I realize that Working Title was behind those early, edgy films of Stephen Frears like My Beautiful Laundrette in 1985 and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid in 1987. So they're not all Richard Curtis-directed films starring Hugh Grant. Their most successful films tend to be low-budget and low-concept.

Working Title has been part of Universal since 1999, when the parties signed an agreement due to expire at the end of 2007. Despite alleged offers from DreamWorks (which did so well in its partnership with another U.K. company, Aardman Animation) and Sony, Working Title co-chairs Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan just signed a new agreement on Friday to extend their stay at Universal for seven more years. The previous deal seems to have worked very well for both parties: Working Title has produced a number of low-budget sleepers and the slate does consistently well internationally. And no, it's not just because everyone likes Hugh Grant. The LA Times claims that Working Title is second only to Imagine Entertainment as "Universal's most consistent supplier of films."