Nicholas Meyer is probably best known as the writer/director of Star Trek II and VI, as well as writing Star Trek IV (which suggests the idea that even numbered Star Trek movies are bettter than odd numbered ones is largely down to him). While his non-Trek work hasn’t been as high profile, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy, and now Meyer has a new assignment, rewriting Jeff Miller’s script for the film Playing Joe.
Variety reports that production company Castle Rock has just bought the screenplay and set Meyer to work on it. While the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s described as a “Hitchcock-style thriller… in the vein of North By Northwest, with memory loss and recovery key to the plot.” That could mean virtually anything, as every every thriller gets compared to Hitchcock in the early stages, so the people behind it can try and build some momentum to get the film made. The only other thing we know it that it’s set in Rio and will be somewhat romantic.
Interestingly the same Variety report says Playing Joe producer Mike Lobell is also still trying to move forward with a Coen Brothers scripted remake of the 1966 British caper movie Gambit, which starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. Numerous people have tried to bring the Coens’ script to the screen and it’s nearly gone before the cameras at least three times, but it seems Lobell isn’t prepared to give up on it and is trying to put all the pieces together once more.