A Radical New Departedure

You didn’t read it here first, folks. Courtesy of a Ken Bruen-shaped birdie, news filters through from the NoirCon in Philly that the Oscar-winning scribe of Martin Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED, William Monahan, is to make his directing debut with a script based on Ken Bruen’s LONDON BOULEVARD. Quoth Variety:

William Monahan has teamed with Quentin Curtis to acquire rights to the Ken Bruen novel LONDON BOULEVARD.
  Monahan has nearly completed the script, and plans to make his directing debut on the crime drama this fall.
  LONDON BOULEVARD revolves around a South London criminal who, after release from prison, tries to give up the gangster life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive young actress.
  Monahan will produce with Curtis, with whom he also acquired the John Pearson book THE GAMBLERS with Monahan planning to write that script for Warner Bros.
  Monahan, who won the Oscar for writing THE DEPARTED, will adapt the remake of the Korean film THE CHASER for WB and just signed with Paramount to write a fact-based thriller about a drug dealer who traded a prison sentence for an undercover stint. – Michael Fleming

Like, it’s not as if Ken Bruen’s weekend wasn’t already going well, what with him being bigged-up Irish style at the NoirCon, where he is this year’s honoured guest along with Dennis McMillan. Oh, and did we mention that Hollywood is going BUST? No? Sorry about that, we’ve been a little busy lately …