Ron Howard to Direct "Mena'; John Carney goes to 'Sing Street'; John McTiernan Returns for 'Red Squad'

* Rush may have been met with critical acclaim, but it didn't lead to a sizable box office or anything in terms of Academy Awards nominations. That's not stopping Ron Howard from pushing forward. He's got an adaptation of In the Heart of the Sea coming up soon, and now he's set to direct drug-world film, Mena, which Universal has just spent a whopping $1M to acquire Gary Spinelli's spec script. The true story centers on "Barry Seal, a portly pilot who, in the 1980s, was a 300-pound gun runner, and drug trafficker who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel. He was eventually shot to death by the latter in Baton Rouge." [Deadline]

* After making his name with the beloved Irish musical romance Once (still a personal favorite), John Carney has wisely stuck closely to the genre. Later this year he'll deliver Can a Song Save Your Life? with Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, and now he's set to direct Sing Street, which will feature original music by his friends Bono and The Edge of U2. The 1980s-set film follows "a 14-year-old Dubliner dealing with the stress of his parent’s marriage, a drop-out brother and bullies at a new school. The youngster forms a band then heads off to London with his aspiring model girlfriend in search of fame and fortune." Filming is set to begin this summer.

* Yay, John McTiernan is back! Once the most prominent action director of the 1980s, responsible for knock-out flicks like Predator and Die Hard, McTiernan found himself swept up in the Anthony Pellicano wire-tapping scandal and was sent off to prison. Obviously this killed many of the projects he had cooking (he was to direct the awful Killing Season at one point), but now that he's finally been released it's time to get back to work. McTiernan is sticking to his roots by directing Red Squad, a DEA thriller penned by Cam Cannon and Jorge Suarez. The story sounds like typical McTiernan, centering on “a former DEA agent with a rogue streak and his select team of mercenaries who descend upon a Mexican border town to neutralize a drug lord.”[Variety]

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'Predator' director John McTiernan finally headed to jail

Finally John McTiernan has run out of options and is headed to jail. The director behind such great films as Predator, Die Hard, and The Thomas Crown Affair has managed to avoid serving a 12-month sentence for lying to the FBI and committing perjury in the wiretapping case involving private investigator Anthony Pelicano. McTiernan's final appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected on Monday as they decided not to hear the case. Pelicano is currently serving a 15-year sentence for racketeering. McTiernan had lied in stating that he never spoke with Pelicano about wiretapping producer Chuck Roven(about Rollerball of all things!), but tape recordings by the investigator proved otherwise.

McTiernan had plead guilty back in 2006, but has since been filing various appeals to stay out of prison. His appeal to the 9th Circuit court in 2010 was rejected, but he was allowed to remain free while appealing to the Supreme Court. With that option now off the table, he'll be turning himself in to a federal prison soon. I have my doubts his last 24 hours as a free man will be as cool or eventful as Spike Lee's 25th Hour, but a guy can hope. Once his sentence is up, McTiernan will still be under a form of probation for the next three years. 

McTiernan's name had been popping up lately as he began to feel more confident in his case, most recently attached to Killing Season with Robert De Niro and John Travolta, but was ultimately replaced by Mark Steven Johnson. McTiernan's last film was the 2003 military thriller, Basic. 

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Predator director returns with new thriller, Shrapnel

Movies were more fun when John McTiernan was at the top of his game. Think about it. In the span of 12 years he was at the helm of many of my favorite flicks: Predator, The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard, and The Thomas Crown Affair. There are a couple of turds in there(The Last Action Hero), but McTiernan was the man for awhile.

Then it all sorta hit the skids. He's only made two films over the last decade, one of which is merely average(Basic), the other should be considered a crime against humanity(Rollerball). I won't go into the criminal charges still looming over his head springing from the 2006 Anthony Pellicano case.

McTiernan seems to be bouncing back, though. At least I hope he is. He's set to direct Shrapnel, a thriller based on 2008 Black List awarded script by Evan Daugherty. The film is described as being about "two war veterans who hunt each other in a deadly game of cat and mouse". Sign me up.

Whether or not this gets off the ground depends on the result McTiernan's sentencing, slated for October 4th. If things go badly, it's possible Shrapnel gets put on the backburner for awhile, or maybe another director will take over. We'll find out in a couple of weeks.

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