“Game of Thrones” directors aren’t doing too badly for themselves of late. After the runaway success of the first two seasons of the show, their names are tossed into the ring for a lot of high-profile projects and Alan Taylor went one better by landing the gig for “Thor: The Dark World.” Established television director Brian Kirk (“Luck,” “Luther,” “Great Expectations”) was also talked about in relation to that job, and while it didn't pan out, it looks like he’s now got his reward.
Kirk has signed on to direct a remake of the Icelandic crime drama “Jar City,” because, you know, Nordic crime is so hot right now. The original 2006 film, directed by Baltasar Kormakur ("Contraband"), followed a detective investigating a new murder which he believes may shed new light on an unsolved rape from over 30 years ago – and even that short synopsis has us thinking about “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
This project has been in the works for a long time now, and was once set up over at Overture before the company collapsed a couple of years ago. But, the timing may be better than ever, as it seems we can’t escape Nordic film and television right now, nor can Hollywood resist the temptation to remake it. Based on some of Kirk’s earlier work we’re sure he’ll be fairly comfortable in this genre, but we’re also sure he’d probably much prefer to be directing Chris Hemsworth right now. Hopefully this can develop into a decent alternative. [LA Times]