American filmmaker Jules Dassin has reportedly died today in Athens, Greece, of complications after catching flu. Obviously it is a sad time for fans of Dassin's Night and the City; Richard Widmark, the actor who starred in that classic noir, died one week ago.

Dassin was born in Connecticut in 1911, became an actor in Yiddish theater in New York and then went on to Hollywood, where he made films noir like Brute Force, The Naked City, Thieves' Hideaway and of course Night and the City, which was his last American film thanks to the persecution of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Fortunately, as an exile in Europe, he continued to churn out brilliant movies, such as the pre-eminent heist flick Rififi, the crime caper Topkapi and the gold-hearted hooker film Never on a Sunday, which starred Dassin and his future wife, Greek actress Melina Mercouri, and for which he received Oscar nominations for writing and directing. His last film was the disappointing 1980 Canadian production Circle of Two, which starred Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neal.

Stone Village Productions is getting their slate for the next couple of years lined up, and they've hired a pair of Oscar-winning writers to get them started. The first is Ronald Bass (a winner for Rain Man), who has been brought on-board to write True Believer which, thankfully, is NOT a remake of the 1989 film, in which James Woods sported the worst hairdo known to man. Instead, it's an adaptation of The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same name, which examines the romance between a cynical science journalist and the granddaughter of a psychic. Aw - it's like Mulder and Scully, except in a "shrink-wrapped, reliably uncomplicated romantic confection that's light as air, smooth as silk and gloriously sweet." Yech. (And that's from the man's publicist - that sort of thing actually sells books?!)

The second scribe is Bo Goldman (he's got two Oscars, for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Melvin and Howard, but hasn't written a thing since Meet Joe Black), and he IS writing a remake, damn him. And it's not just any remake - it's Rififi, for the love of God, a movie that is perfect just the way it is, thanks very much. But, because Stone Village read "career thief", "wife left him while he was in prison", and "jewelry heist" and saw dollar signs, they're doing it again anyway, with Al Pacino in the starring role. Arg. Arg arg arg.