Word Up

It's always the way; you think of a great idea for a movie and then you find that half a dozen other people are ahead of you in the race to the big screen. It happened with asteroids and comets (Armageddon, Deep Impact), the planet Mars (Red Planet and Mission to Mars) and English outlaws (Robin Hood - the Kevin Costner and Patrick Bergin versions) and now it's happening with...Scrabble. Variety reports that two scripts are in a fight to the death to make it into production. In the lead at the moment is 'My Word Against Yours' - a romantic comedy set in the world of competitive scrabble - which has just been bought up by Miramax. Following close on its heels is Curtis Hanson who has optioned the film rights to a book by a Wall Street Journal writer, Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble. It'll be worth the price of admission just to see if the filmmakers can translate that heady excitement of getting a triple word score on to the big screen.