While James McTeigue hasn’t made his defining film yet, under the guidance of The Wachowskis he has proven himself to be an able and stylish director. Cutting his teeth with the duo as an Assistant Director on “The Matrix” trilogy and a Second Unit director on “Speed Racer,” he was given the his first shot behidn the director’s chair with “V For Vendetta,” a kind of silly, very Wachowski-an adaptation of Alan Moore‘s graphic novel. From there he tried to save the disastrous “The Invasion,” brought in at the last minute to try and salvage whatever he could before moving on to his second effort, “Ninja Assassin.” Next year’s “The Raven” is poised to see him break out on his own in a big way and he’s lining up a new project to keep that momentum going.
“Message From The King” will see McTeigue changing gears again, but sticking well within the genre film world. Penned by “Unknown” writers Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell details are tight but the logline ventures that its a thriller that “centers on Jacob King, an enigmatic outsider who comes to LA to investigate the sudden disappearance of his sister.” Actually sounds like it could be pretty good if it goes for the sort of disorientation Los Angeles can have on an outsider. But then, coming from the dudes who wrote “Unknown,” it might just be one long chase movie as well.
Anyway, we’ll see how that one goes. For now, McTeigue will make the trek to San Diego to stump for “The Raven.” Starring John Cusack as the famed writer, the serial killer thriller which features Poe teaming up with a detective (Brendan Gleeson) to track down a murderer who mimics his work, in the last week of the writer’s life. In addition to ripping his books for ideas on how to kill people, the murderer will also kidnap Cusack’s fiance played by Alice Eve. Then Poe will get all literary on the dude’s ass. The film hits on March 9, 2012 and we presume some kind of teaser trailer will hit before the week is through. [Deadline]