Screenwriter David Koepp is the latest writer to come aboard Men in Black III, hired to work out certain script issues before production resumes on March 28. Half the movie’s already been shot – the part that takes place in the present day – but while a break was built into the schedule between that and the parts set in 1969, the second half of the shoot has had to be delayed while they work on the script.
It was known when production began that the screenplay wasn’t locked, but it was hoped that the issues could all be sorted before the 1969 sections were filmed.
Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder) wrote the original script for the sequel, while Jeff Nathanson was hired last November to rework the script, although a report from last month indicated Etan Cohen was back on the project. Now Deadline reports that David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Angels & demons, War Of The Worlds) will be working on the script for “several weeks” before production restarts.
The film will follow Will Smith’s Agent J, who travels back in time to meet a younger version of Agent K (Josh Brolin). Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as Agent K in the present-day sequences.
It’ll hit cinemas May 2012 – presuming they can can sort out the script, that is.