EDIT: I disappointedly lept on this news having apparently taken Carnahan’s tweets too seriously, as the director has admonished me for phrasing it as a “collapse,” when he’s “simply showing folks my preferred ‘cast’ version of the movie.” 

While the tweet below sounds pretty definitive (I’ve seen the web taken over by stories based on more vague shit than that), I’ll fully admit that this is an inherent danger of the lightning speed with which bits of information are snapped up and processed. I usually avoid jumping on the tiniest tweeted scraps and prefer to let things develop at least a bit, and this is a good lesson for why that’s the best policy. Filmmakers are getting increasingly frustrated with this shit, and now I’m another asshole exemplifying exactly why they should be! Especially frustrating because one never wants to imagine poisoning the well for a project, even to the tiniest degree.

So there’s more to hear on this one, and I’ve crossed out all the definitive statements, but nonetheless I’ll be updating with the screen tests, which are still a cool peek behind the scenes…

Joe Carnahan’s twitter feed is quickly becoming the very best place for Joe Carnahan news, especially about his project that don’t come together!

You’ll recall last month when Daredevil was running out the clock at Fox, we were hearing interesting rumors about extension deals with Marvel, and Carnahan’s pitch was being considered as the studio’s most likely path towards a reboot. While that project was always on the margins, it was still a bummer when Carnahan personally confirmed its demise, but one softened by him sharing the pitch reel– something we don’t often see.

Well today, a project that seemed good-to-go earlier in the year has apparently been shuttered  [is still good to go?] as Carnahan has begun tweeting about his original script Continue as a “could have been,” and has started uploading his screen tests for the film.

If you’re not familiar with the project, the synopsis for Continue is one of those instant promises of a cool movie.

“Continue follows a former soldier forced to re-live the same day over and over while on the run from assassins trying to kill him for reasons unknown.“

At this moment he’s only uploaded the first piece “The Poor Bastard Sushi Bar,” but promises another four parts, which apparently must be viewed sequentially in order for the “Groundhog Day as an action film” concept to come across. The first part is straightforward enough, with Frank Grillo (Warrior, The Grey) walking into a Sushi bar to down some sake and internally grumble about the loudmouth next to him. Presumably a group of assassins will soon find him and kill him, starting his day all over again. The following four parts will be uploaded across the next few days or so.

I’ll keep updating with the other pieces as he puts them up, but at this point we’re left to wonder why the fuck Fox can’t commit to anything with old Joe. The guy made what is still one of the best movies of the year, and The Grey even made decent coin at the box office in January- typically a dump month! (It’s a movie that is so good that when I saw it at a press screening in Deceember, it spent a week on my 2011 Best Of The Year list before I remembered it was a January 2012 release!).

There are a few answers, and the key is that this kind of hit-to-miss ratio with developing projects in Hollywood is not uncommon, Carnahan has simply made the process more transparent. The Daredevil gig was always flimsy, and wrapped up in way too many delicate legal knots to be anyone’s fault really. As for Continue, I suspect Tom Cruise’s similar greenlit film, All You Need Is Kill, might have something to do with its demise. You have to remember that Carnahan has Death Wish (explicitly not a remake!) lined up with Fox next, so by the time he gets Continue off the ground, it might be right in the line of sight of the likely bigger, more alien-packed blockbuster that would also have Tom Cruise playing Groundhog Day as an action flick.

Unfortunate timing for the two concepts, but I’m not shocked Fox would blink in the face of the clearly bigger project. Naturally this particular cause-and-effect scenario is just my guess, so there may be other reasons in addition or instead of what I’ve posited. EDIT: And since it’s been made clear that I jumped too hard on the project “collapsing,” I wonder if it’s merely on hiatus, has simply changed in some way, or some other possibility that will still end up with me seeing the film someday.

Again, I’ll keep updating as Joe does, so bookmark this and check back to see them all in one place. Make sure you’re following Carnahan on twitter though, and maybe toss the guy a word of support so he knows we really would like to see all the cool things he wants to show us…