Spike Lee Sets a 'Nagasaki Deadline'

Just when it looked like Spike Lee might enjoy a lengthy career revival after Inside Man made a lot of moneyand was his best movie in years, he went and made Miracle at St. Anna, a languid piece of historical fiction that was somehow short on action and narrative heft even though it's nearly three damn hours long. Nobody went to see it and that may have put the brakes on Lee's comeback, especially with the recent cancellation of Inside Man sequel. So what is Spike's new defibrillator? No, not campaigning for LeBron James to join the Knicks, although he's doing a fair amount of that. Cinema Blend says Lee will direct a terrorism-themed thriller called Nagasaki Deadline, which has roots dating back nearly a decade. The film has finally found its footing thanks to Lightstorm, Alcon, and 8:38, and because James Cameron funnels his stuff through Lightstorm, there was a belief on Monday that he'd be producing this, but that's not true. Instead, Jon Landau, Cameron's constant co-producer, Jon Landau is taking the lead along with Rae Sanchini for Lightstorm. "The film focuses on an FBI agent's attempts to stop two terrorist attacks planned for American soil, which he believes are somehow tied into American history," writes Cinema Blend, so that sounds more like Inside Man than St. Anna. Count your blessings. Lee really showed he could make a good mainstream movie and keep things moving in the right direction with Inside Man, but of course he had an excellent cast to work with and a really good genre screenplay. We can only hope for the same thing here.