Paul Greengrass To Executive Produce, Possibly Direct Pilot Of Fox CIA Drama

Try as he might, the next film for Paul Greengrass is proving elusive to get started. He was looking to direct his Martin Luther King Jr. flick "Selma" but unfortunately Universal put the brakes on that after the civil rights leader's estate expressed concern about some of the not so nice things in the script. He circled a couple of other projects that ultimately went to other directors, including "Frankenstein" over at Fox (now with Shawn Levy) and "Rush" (now with Ron Howard). At one point, the pirate rescue story "Maersk Alabama" with Tom Hanks looked like it would roll next, but talk has quieted. Lastly, over the summer, Greengrass was attached to an adaptation of Robert Harris' hedge-fund world drama "The Fear Index."

And so, while the feature film world might be a bit unsteady right now for Greengrass, he's going to head — like so many other auteurs — to the creative comforts of television. Deadline report Greengrass will executive produce a currently untitled Fox CIA drama, and he may even direct the pilot depending on scheduling. This isn't Greengrass' first foray into television, though it will be his debut bow stateside. Over in the U.K. he's directed a handful of small screen movies including the football scandal drama "The Fix," the Iraq war movie "The One That Got Away" and the police flick "Open Fire."

As for the Fox show, it's familiar territory for Greengrass, taking place within in a number of government organizations — CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI — and chronciling the lives of young assistants to the power players in the U.S. intelligence committee. Joe Weisberg ("Falling Skies") is taking a pen to the project and producing with Brian Grazer who helped lure Greengrass into the fold. Early days still, so other details are thin for now.

So, it's good to know Greengrass is at least up to something, but here's hoping another feature isn't too far off.