Short on Time, John Dahl

Not a whole hell of a lot to report this week. I'm still reeling from the complete failure that was 'The Prince of Darkness.' A new project has been announced: Short on Time, directed by John Dahl (Kill Me Again, Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Rounders, Joy Ride, The Great Raid, You Kill Me) and starring Johnny Depp. This is the movie I wanted to cast Timothy Olyphant and January Jones in, but Jones was busy with 'Woman' and well Timothy Olyphant ain't Johnny Depp, I guess. John Dahl is a director I've always enjoyed, and I wanted to work with him and see what he can do with a Hitchcockian thriller, with the Johnny Depp character similar to Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest.'

'Short on Time' was inspired by several noir film I've seen over the years. It's got all the elements, the shady supporting cast, the race against time, the hero who will stop at nothing short of his own death, a MacGuffin. It's not terribly original, but I think it's a nice addition to CMP's film vault, and can only be an improvement over 'The Prince of Darkness.' This project also went through some major changes just before production: a change of setting (from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois to Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana), and the aforementioned casting issues which were amplified by the change in setting and a last minute rewrite.