Now that Warner Bros. is pushing ahead with its new cinematic take on classic anthology series The Twilight Zone, the studio is looking to recruit some top-notch talent to direct the thing, throwing out feelers to the likes of Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuaron, Michael Bay, David Yates and Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt.
But unlike the 1983 film, they wouldn’t all be contributing a segment: the plan this time around is to focus on a single storyline with one man in charge. Now the question is which of the names on the shortlist (if any, given the changeable nature of directing assignments) will hoist the megaphone.
While Nolan is Warners’ big pal given his work on the Bat-trilogy and Inception, he’s also more likely to stick to his own plans unless the idea of venturing into the Zone appeals to him. There’s also the issue, as pointed out by Variety, of Inception already having seemed like it leaked from Rod Serling’s imagination.
Bay’s obviously got the chops to handle a big film, and it would present something of a fresh challenge for him to balance his spectacle-loving impulses with a script that promises to be a little more thoughtful than his usual fodder. But he’s also been trying to shift gears after the run of **Transformers **movies, and might instead stick to making bodybuilding black comedy Pain and Gain.
Cuaron’s busy editing sci-fi drama Gravity, but could be available. He’s also a solid choice for the mixture of the fantastic and the ordinary that is at the core of the Zone. As for Yates, he’s the **Potter **veteran with a shot and Wyatt is naturally on every studio’s radar after his simian success.
It remains to be seen who finally grabs the gig. Leonardo DiCaprio’s producing and Jason Rothenberg has written the most recent draft of the script. While the plot’s wrapped in secrecy, it does apparently touch on some of the themes from the original series. So... morality, surprise and the thin line between reality and fiction, then?