How bittersweet must it be to have your screenplay optioned by a studio, only to have it rewritten right off the bat?

Playing Joe, a script by Jeff Miller (a new writer, far as i can tell), has been optioned by Castle Rock studios, to be handled by seasoned producer Mike Lobell. Variety describes the script as a “Hitchcock-style thriller” recalling North By Northwest with “memory loss and recovery key to the plot.”

One assumes there is some sort of interesting hook beyond the ‘cock elements or they would have just optioned North By Northwest, badass’d the crop-duster sequence into an epic-scope CGI orgy, and been done with it. Who’s the B-List George Clooney these days?  

Whatever ideas caught Castle Rock’s eyes in the script however, will be re-filtered through the pen of Nicholas Meyer- occasional Star Trek film scribe, and writer of Martin Scorcese’s currently-shelved Teddy picture*. He’s been hired to rewrite Miller’s work.

Thinking about it, I guess the answer to the question up top depends on the size of the check…

There is also an interesting bit slid into the bottom of the article that mentions producer Lobell’s search for a new director to helm a remake of Michael Caine’s 1966 Gambit… a remake apparently scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen. From what I can find, this will be the first time the Brothers have had one of their scripts handled by another director since 1985 with Crimewave and Sam Raimi. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

Something clever, MESSAGE BOARD.

*Do all the great directors have presidential biopic vapor-films? Is there some club for this? Did Robert Altman die having never produced his passion William Henry Harrison biography?