According to Variety, WB is keen on kickstarting THE TWILIGHT ZONE with a big director to cross us over into the bizarre. Their frontrunner unsurprisingly (considering the success he’s brought the studio with INCEPTION and THE DARK KNIGHT) is Christopher Nolan. He’s reportedly closely followed in the mix by destroyer of worlds Michael Bay and the smart, elegant Alfonso Cuaron.
Also looked at for the project was HARRY POTTER director David Yates, though Variety says that his prospects to take the job have waned. And while Nolan, Bay, and Curaon are the studio’s faves, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES wrangler Rupert Wyatt is apparently a dark horse in the mix, thanks to the surprisingly strong popular and critical success of his APES reboot.
Unlike the 1983 iteration that featured four smaller stories directed by separate A-list directors (i.e. Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Joe Dante, and George Miller), this new version will cover “a single storyline that touches on several themes from the Rod Sterling TV show that ran from 1959-1964.”
So, who do you like? Nolan, I don’t see doing it. He’s a “one for me, one for them” director, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is his “for them” film. His next (if he can get all the moving parts working) will likely be his long-in-development Howard Hughes biopic which looks at Hughes when he was already nuts. As Variety points out, Bay has seen some version of a script for the film and likes it, but he may instead choose to tackle his competitive bodybuilding passion project PAIN AND GAIN. Cuaron (currently finishing up GRAVITY for the studio) and Wyatt, on the hand, are the only ones of the bunch who don’t have new projects lined up.