The last time I saw my awesome amigo Nacho Vigalondo, it was at a Sundance party during which he was A) very thrilled to have his film play the festival, B) mega-elated that writer/producer Steven Zaillian would be involved in the English-language remake of his film (Timecrimes), and C) seriously drunk and hanging out with an overworked karaoke machine. When I pressed him for additional details, he said something to the effect of "I don't know yet, but .... Steve SALE-IAN, man! He wrote Bobby Fischer and Gangs of New York, man..." To which I responded, "Yeah, dude. Damn good writer. Plus Schindler's List, A Civil Action, American Gangster, and the awesome Falcon and the Snowman!"

The drunken Spaniard's eyes went absolutely wide: "Steve SALE-IAN is remaking my movieeeee!" He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, I swear. It was an awesomely sweet thing to see. But since we weren't really sure about Mr. Zaillian's specific attachment to the remake, this fresh news is also pretty exciting. Wouldn't it be cool if the Timecrimes remake had a Steve Zaillian screenplay and a director named ... David Cronenberg?? (I've seen Timecrimes more than once, and I think Mr. Cronenberg would be a perrrrrrrrfect fit for this time-travel / serial killer material.)

The United Artists re-do is still in the very early stages, so we could see a lot of personnel changes before the American version of Timecrimes hits the scene -- but given how positive the reaction has been among festival audiences, flick-buyers, and remake makers, we might just see it a little sooner than later. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the original film, which is a favorite among the Magnolia gang, and should be getting a release some time later this year.

Gracias: Shock and Blogdecine

There's no doubting Steven Zaillian's talents as a writer. He won an adapted screenplay Oscar for Schindler's List and also was nominated for Gangs of New York and Awakenings. As a director, too, he's had his share of accolades. Remember Searching for Bobby Fischer? Not bad at all. But considering he last gave us the long-delayed, much-condemned remake of All the King's Men, he has a lot to prove with his next go behind the camera. According to Variety, he's announced his follow-up, and it's a project that will be judged with extra scrutiny since it happens to be an adaptation of one of this year's most popular books. Zaillian will write and direct the screen version of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. Maybe you heard of it; the novel only held the top spot on the New York Times Bestseller List for most of the summer. Personally, I noticed more people reading Hosseini's previous (and debut) novel, The Kite Runner, but still, it's clear the author is the Dan Brown of 2007.

A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of two Afghan women married to the same man and their alliance against their abusive husband. It also covers the last three decades of Afghan history, through the Soviet invasion, the civil war and the Taliban rule. It was so highly anticipated after the success of The Kite Runner, that producer Scott Rudin picked up the rights five months before it was even released. It should be pointed out that Rudin produced Zaillian's first two directorial works, Bobby Fischer and A Civil Action, but did not produce All the King's Men. The movie version of The Kite Runner, which was directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) and will be in theaters in November, should be good enough to also build interest for Zaillian's version of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Meanwhile, Zaillian's latest script-work (rewriting himself) will be on display in November's American Gangster, from director Ridley Scott, who also helmed Zaillian's much-panned adaptation of Hannibal.