The Black List Update: Top 15 from 2009

Two years after their appearance on the 2008 Black List, topper films such as The Beaver, Oranges and Butter are all in the bank and awaiting a release next year, while if we plunge into the 2009 list, we see a bunch of titles that have had half the time to get into the starting gate and yet, there are a handful of projects on this list that should, barring disaster, be completed and readied for a 2011 release. One of the top entries, Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network, has already been completed and released and perhaps benefited from the fact that Spacey and his friends at Sony approved the first draft and sent it to Fincher within days of receiving it.

15. Toy’s House (Votes: 15)
Writer: Chris Galletta
Status: In Development. Big Beach Productions.

Chris Galletta’s alternative comedy was picked up by Big Beach Productions (Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine Cleaning). The story follows 14-year-old Joe Toy and his buddies, who decide to build their own house in the woods when they tire of their parents overbearing ways.

13. Pawn Sacrifice (Votes: 17)
Writer: Steve Knight
Status: In Development. Columbia Pictures.
David Fincher has signed on to direct Columbia Pictures chess drama. Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) wrote the screenplay – which follows American chess legend Bobby Fischer in the lead up to his historic world championship match against Boris Spassky – for producer Gail Katz. Tobey Maguire is also producing.

13. When Corruption Was King (Votes: 17)
Writer: Frank Baldwin
Status: In Development. Paramount and Temple Hill Entertainment

Based on the autobiography of whistle-blowing Chicago Mafia lawyer Robert Cooley, Frank Baldwin’s script tells the story of the Mob’s control of the city through an elaborate web of bribery, vote-rigging and violence. A Paramount email leak from August 2010 suggested that they are still waiting for a new draft from Baldwin.

12. Doc and Howie Whack A Granny (Votes: 18)
Writer: Steve Leff
Status: In Development. Montecito Picture Company

TV comedy writer/ producer Steve Leff makes his move into features with this bizarre comedy about two men who inadvertently kill an elderly woman when they neglect to help her carry groceries up stairs, but then find themselves getting closer to the woman’s attractive granddaughters. Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, clearly attracted to comedies about dead people, have chosen this as their directorial debut…and the title is now shortened to Doc and Howie. 

10. The Days Before (Votes: 19)
Writer: Chad St. John
Status: In Development. Warner Bros and Hollywood Gang Prods

After Warner optioned St John’s screenplay, a number of major action directors circled before Tim Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) came on board. Robert Downey Jr and Reese Witherspoon are both in talks to star. The film concerns a man from the future who keeps hopping one successive day into the past, desperate to stop a vicious race of time-travelling aliens from wiping out humanity. Gianni Nunnari (300) is believed to be producing for Warners.

10. By Way of Helena (Votes: 19)
Writer: Matt Cook
Status: In Development. Sergei Bodrov.

Set in the south at the turn of the century, Texas Ranger David Kingston and his Mexican bride are sent down to the mysterious town of Helena to investigate the multiple Mexican bodies washing up in the river. What they discover is an idyllic-like town where everything is not as it seems.

9. The Gunslinger (Votes: 21)
Writer: John Hlavin
Status: In Development. Warner Bros.

When a Texas Ranger is horrifically tortured and killed, his sharp-shooter older brother plots revenge against the mysterious, sadistic leader of a notorious drug cartel. Andrew Lazar is producing for Warner Bros via Mad Chance Productions.

8. Desperados (Votes: 22)
Writer: Ellen Rapoport
Status: In Development. Universal.

You might expect a film produced by Mark Gordon (2012) and Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) to be some sort of epic thriller. Well it isn’t… it’s a rom-com starring The Wedding Crashers’ Isla Fisher. Wesley Robbins, a 30-something single attorney, sends an indignant e-mail to her new beau who’s gone silent after they have sex. When she discovers he’s comatose in a Mexican hospital, she races south of the border with her friends to intercept the e-mail before he recovers.

7. L.A. Rex (Votes: 23)
Writer: Will Beall
Status: Optioned. Paramount

Scott Rudin, via Paramount, has optioned Will Beall’s adaptation of his own hard-hitting novel.Rookie LAPD officer Ben Halloran gets partnered with scarred and tobacco-spitting Officer Marquez, and the unlikely team hit the streets of L.A. on the brink of a gang-rivalry explosion. Amid run-ins with the Mexican mafia, brutal gang murders, and corrupt cops, we soon find that Halloran may not be as squeaky clean as his brand new badge.

6. Londongrad (Votes: 24)
Writer: David Scarpa
Status: Optioned. Warner Bros.

David Scarpa (The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Last Castle) has adapted Alan Cowell’s 2008 book ‘The Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder’, which chronicles the life of Alexander Litvinenko, who was famously poisoned in London in 2006. Initial Entertainment Group and Infinitum Nihil are producing for Warners.

5. Cedar Rapids (Votes: 27)
Writer: Phil Johnston
Status: To be released by Fox Searchlight on February 11, 2011
Miguel Arteta (Youth In Revolt) turns to a more mature hero in Phil Johnston’s delightful comedy. Ed Helms (The Hangover) plays Tim Lippy, a quiet and unassuming small-town insurance man who unexpectedly gets the chance to represent his company at the Cedar Rapids insurance convention. John C. Reilly, Alia Shakwat, Anne Heche and Sigourney Weaver co-star. Ad Hominem Enterprises produced for Fox. This is showing at Sundance.

4. Prisoners (Votes: 35)
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
Status: In Development. Warner Bros.

Guzikowski’s script must be quite dog-eared by now, it has been through so many hands in Los Angeles. Bryan Singer was set to direct with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale starring. When that fell through Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) was set to direct Hugh Jackman in a lower-budget version. Now Leonardo DiCaprio has set the project up at Warner Bros. Guzikowski’s script concerns a desperate father who turns vigilante and tortures the man he suspects is behind his 8-yr-old daughter’s disappearance after cops fail to find the little girls and release the suspect… but does he have the right man?

3. The Voices (Votes: 40)
Writer: Michael R. Perry
Status: In Development. Vertigo Entertainment.

Jerry, a schizophrenic worker at a bathtub factory, accidentally kills an attractive woman from accounting. While trying to cover his bloody tracks, Jerry starts taking advice from his talking (and foul-mouthed) cat and dog. Doug Davison and Roy Lee are producing for Vertigo. Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) is developing the project with an eye to directing, and Ben Stiller is in talks to star, which could be the greatest piece of casting against type since, well… Robin Williams in One Hour Photo?

2. The Social Network (Votes: 42)
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Status: Released on October 1st.

While Kevin Spacey was turning Ben Mezrich’s book ‘Bringing Down The House’ into 21, Mezrich mentioned an idea for his next book… a biography of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and the courtcases and deception that have plagued his extraordinary success. Spacey immediately handed the project to Scott Rudin who produced via Sony. Fincher directed and chose Jesse Eisenberg to play the lead role with Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield supporting. The film garnered 6 Golden Globe nominations and won LA Film Critics Awards for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, and it is garnering almost every Best Picture award among critic associations.

1. The Muppet Man (Votes: 47)
Writer: Christopher Weekes
Status: In Development. The Jim Henson Co.

Sadly, the 2009 list-topper seems like one of the least likely to see the light of day. Chris Weekes spec script was picked up by The Jim Henson Co. after reaching the top spot; but the company immediately criticised the script’s dark tone and the unpleasant light it shines on Jim’s relationship with Jane Henson. The company prefer the idea of a child-friendly musical that leaves out Jim and Jane’s relationship; and it seems increasingly likely that they bought Weekes’ script simply to bury it or, at best, add a few elements of it into their own project. Doesn’t help that Disney is releasing The Muppets due out late next year.