I feel the need, the need to open my copy of Final Draft: a potential sequel to "Top Gun" has been gestating for awhile, with the project officially going into development a few years ago, with Peter Craig ("The Town") penning a script, and original director Tony Scott and star Tom Cruise said to be returning. But the project ground to a halt two years ago when Scott passed away, and little’s been heard since.
But it looks like something’s happening: The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer have hired a new writer for the project, one Justin Marks. The scribe has been around for awhile, though his only produced feature so far is the rather ignominious "Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li." But he’s clearly hot right now, with his screenplay for "Disney’s The Jungle Book" going before cameras shortly with Jon Favreau directing. Will he be the one to get "Top Gun 2" to take off?
In other behind-the-camera news, "Taken" and "The Gunman" director Pierre Morel is sticking to what he knows, and is attached to action project "Victor The Assassin," the first in what’s hoped to be a franchise series. StudioCanal are backing. [Deadline]. Meanwhile, "Robot & Frank" helmer Jake Schreier has landed a plum job: he’ll direct "Paper Towns," an adaptation of the novel by "Fault In Our Stars" author John Green. Nat Wolff is starring, and Fox have already set the project for a ‘Faults’-aping July 31st release next year. [Variety]
Otherwise, German director Christian Zubert ("Tour De Force") is planning to make his English-language debut with an adaptation of T.C. Boyle‘s novel "Water Music" [Screen Daily], "V For Vendetta" director James McTeigue will helm "Alien Sleeper Cell" [The Hollywood Reporter] and Neil Gaiman‘s Witch Hunters-free version of "Hansel & Gretel" is being developed as a movie. [Variety].