My Big Fat Greek Screenplay

If Hollywood has a favourite European country at the moment, it is definitely Greece. The nation that brought us Troy and Oliver Stone's forthcoming Alexander is also the inspiration for the forthcoming The Odyssey from the producers of Harry Potter. Now the Hellenic Republic is once again lending Tinseltown its legends, with the announcement that Dreamworks is working on The Argonauts, and has signed screenwriter Michael Cooney to work on the project. Unlike, say, Ray Harryhausen's take on Jason and the Argonauts, this will not be a straight translation of the Greek myth. Instead of following Jason's search for the Golden Fleece and encounters with the Harpies and other beasties, this film will be set in the run-up to World War II. The plot concerns a group of treasure hunters who believe that they have located the wreck of the Argo, Jason's ship, which may still contain the Golden Fleece and other treasures of the ancient world. Cooney wrote last year's Identity as well as, er, Jack Frost and a number of plays and TV films, and is currently working on Bad Ronald for Warners. He'll be working under the watchful eye of producers including Stephen Sommers, who was originally attached to direct but will now only be producing