Hey folks, Harry here with an update on the following information! After reading the below information that Quint and West Coast Evil Operator Moriarty put together I set out to see what I could find out. Turns out that indeed Michael Bay has taken a meeting and read the script for Ted Tally's RED DRAGON. However, no negotiations are going on between Dino and Michael because as of yet, Michael has not decided if he wants to do this film. Michael has GORY DETAILS and that King Arthur project on his plate at the moment, and might want to do those first, which would mean passing on RED DRAGON... but as of yet he hasn't decided. As for Cage? I could get no confirmation on Nick Cage's involvement in RED DRAGON, but Moriarty seems to have some solid sources on this (yes, I do know those sources).

I have just finished reading Ted Tally's script for RED DRAGON... I believe it to be a masterpiece of writing. Tally's scripts are one of the pure joys of script reading in this world. And this is his finest work I've read to date. Superb and haunting. As for Michael Bay directing it? I have enjoyed Bay's films immensely thus far, but I believe that this would be a terrible choice for him. Michael loves beautiful imagery in his films... and for certain... the images that Tally's script conjures could be made beautiful... but dear lord... they should not be made beautiful. It would be wrong. AICN will continue to keep ya updated!

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BELOW YOU WILL FIND THE FIRST REPORT ON THIS WHICH I HAVE UPDATED ABOVE!!!!

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Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

Oh, boy. Sometimes you just stumble across one. AICN's favorite resident old salt QUINT was hanging around online a little earlier today, scaring people by randomly Instant Messaging them stories about the sinking of the INDIANAPOLIS ("Their eyes was black like doll's eyes..."). He tried to scare me, and we started talking back and forth. Suddenly, Quint gasped.

Don't ask me how I knew this over the Internet. I just did. He gasped.

"OhjesusgodNO," he said.

Even in simple black character on an AOL IM window, I could feel the panic. I could tell that something had rattled Quint deeply. He told me what he had just been told by a highly reliable tipster, and I asked him if we could use that piece of info. The tipster made us promise we would never reveal that he was Ted Tally, and we agreed.

Oooops. Er, I mean, we promised that we would lie and SAY it was Ted Tally. Right. That's what I meant.

I called two other sources to see if I could get a confirmation on this, and each of them confirmed half the rumor for me. The pieces fit, so I hopped back on with Quint and told him that it looked like he had, indeed, broken the name of the director and actor that are currently being offered the helm of RED DRAGON and the starring role of Will Graham.

He sputtered, "I'm going to write something up right fucking now. The hell they're going to fuck with this script and not get bitchslapped about it."

Now, I haven't finished this script yet. Quint just reviewed it, though, and loved it. I just got a copy mysteriously delivered to me last night, and I've only been able to read the opening, the sequence where Will Graham actually catches Hannibal Lecter. I'll tell you this... it's amazing. It's a Lecter that is far more threatening than in SOTL or in HANNIBAL. This is still a Lecter who believes he'll never be caught.

I can understand Quint's rage at the names he heard. I really can. I can understand why the original tipster told us, "They're going to fuck it up." I am going to try to say this without giving in to the kind of hyperbolic rant that Harry had against some of the casting on SCOOBY-DOO, but it's not going to be easy.

I just can't picture RED DRAGON starring Nicolas Cage, directed by Michael Bay.

But that's what they're looking at right now. Oh, yes... it's true. Bay and Cage have it, and it's a great piece of material, the best script Bay's ever had offered to him. He'd be crazy to turn it down. He'd also be crazy to take it. No matter what, someone's going to call for his head.

Cage as Graham? Could work, I suppose. But he needs a director who will push him to do his best, who dares him to be the character actor who I adored in the '80s instead of the movie star I couldn't stand in the '90s. Cage needs to be dangerous in a way that he was never allowed to be in, say, 8MM. He needs to take us over the edge with Graham so we can feel what it's like to be caught in a killer's mind.

And Bay. Oh, Michael. I've gotten a reputation around these parts as a Michael Bay hater. And that's not the truth. I have yet to like one of his movies, but Michael fascinates me. He's a hell of a nice guy in person, actually somewhat reserved. I've had a chance to visit him twice during the production of PEARL HARBOR, once to sit and watch almost 40 minutes of the film with Harry. I honestly can't tell you what I think of PEARL HARBOR yet. The 40 minutes we saw was about half-attack, half-dialogue, and there was some gigantic stuff in there, some awesome work. The real key to the film will be the heart, though, the emotional story. So far, Michael's dropped the ball with this stuff. The "animal crackers" in the underwear scene in ARMAGEDDON has to be the most painfully unrealistic love scene in any film in recent memory. Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine didn't look that uncomfortable kissing in DEATHTRAP, fer chrissakes.

If he takes this material, he's got the biggest challenge of his career ahead of him. This script is almost a dare. If he can make this film without cranking up the style and burying the elegance beneath a landslide of pointless pyrotechnics, then RED DRAGON could be a significant next step for him. If he isn't able to do that... well... maybe he should hand the script to the next director on the list. Because nothing will be worth the headache he'll get from the constant freaking out of a legion of Thomas Harris fans if he doesn't get it right.

Anyway... our crusty seaman Quint gets the credit on this catch. Kick ass work. He's reviewing, he's interviewing, and he's scooping like a muthafucka, all in the same day. Way to go, Quint!!