http://chud.com/nextraimages/ridleyandcamera.jpgThis is Spinal Tap completely ruined the mystery of Stonehenge for me, but I’ll give the elaborately stacked group of rocks another shot if Ridley Scott’s interested in divining their purpose.

The big question here is "if", since Scott has a tendency to attach himself to more projects than he actually makes. Stones, based on a screenplay by Matt Cirulnick, is described by Variety as a "supernatural thriller" which posits that the ancient site "is the tie that binds together artifacts that still have primeval powers." And this is important because a number of ancient religious sites all over the world are being destroyed ‘cuz… folks is sick and tired of ancient religious sites? I dunno. The Variety story terms these actions as "mysterious". But of course.

As Stones is currently in-development, it may be a while before the project gets anywhere close to the fast track – where it will jockey for position with Nottingham (a near certainty at this point), Child 44 (who knows) and Blood Meridian (one can dream). As a screenwriter, Cirulnick is still an unknown quantity: he was one of four credited writers on the kinda solid low-budget flick Paid in Full, penned the narrative for the video game True Crime: New York City and is currently collaborating with McG and Ice Cube on separate films. Obviously, he’s got some heat. But short of tracking any of these scripts down, it’s impossible to judge whether he’s any good.

I will say that Stones sounds awfully gimmicky to me, so hopefully Cirulnick won’t be too offended if I continue to lobby for Scott to get on the Cormac McCarthy Express with Blood Meridian before studios discover there’s no money in it. If Stones eventually earns a greenlight, it’ll be made at 20th Century Fox.