Ron Howard continues to fill out his dance card, becomes attached to Spy vs. Spy

Though Deadline says that Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer are determined to move forward with their extremely ambitious Stephen King adaptation THE DARK TOWER early next year – whether with Universal or another willing studio – the director continues to line up projects nevertheless.

The latest is SPY VS. SPY, based on the Mad Magazine comic strip about rival spooks who continually attempt to one-up each other. The film will be live-action, featuring “physical and highly visual action comedy.” Howard, Grazer, and David Koepp will produce. Koepp is also overseeing the project’s script which will be written by John Kamps (with whom Koepp wrote PREMIUM RUSH).

The word, though, is that if SPY VS. SPY happens, it won’t be for some time. Most likely to be seen first, possibly even before THE DARK TOWER, is the Peter Morgan-scripted Niki Lauda biopic RUSH, about the three-time F1 champion who nearly died in a fiery crash in 1976.