Christoph Waltz To Make Writing-Directing Debut

It's great that Christoph Waltz won the Oscar for his role in Inglourious Basterds, but what he really wants to do is direct. Waltz has inked a deal to make his feature film directorial debut with Auf Und Davon (Up and Away, or as IMDB has it, Up, Up and Away), based on his own script.

The Hollywood Reporter says the film is about "a woman who is the ruthless host of a dating show competition. She finds herself in over her head when the show's romantic story line bumps into her own feelings for a contestant," and a rep for Fox Internation, which bought the project, says that Up and Away "reflect's Christoph's formidable sense of humor."

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Guild Awards Point the Way to Oscar Wins

We're a week away from the Academy Awards, and I just saw a promo on ABC, based around the show being live, which seems like an odd way to look at it. But it goes with "Live is...adventure" and "Live is...connection" and other statements that make no sense, concluding with something about live being unpredictable or words to that effect. I suppose that's true, but when it comes to this year's Academy Awards, they're fairly predictable.

Outside of Best Picture, which is voted on by the general Academy membership, each other award is determined by Oscar voters in specific categories - actors vote on the acting awards, costume designers for that award, directors for directors. And those awards have already been handed out, with the exception of the visual effects awards, and we know where that's headed. So if you're one of those people who does the Oscar pool, go with these nominees, because they've already won the same award from the professional guilds. There might be some differences along the way, though; Inglourious Basterds should win Best Original Screenplay but it wasn't eligible for the Writers Guild award, so that went to The Hurt Locker. Similar issues may crop up, but the overwhelming majority of these trophies seem set in stone.

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Video: Tarantino On Oscar Chances for 'Basterds'

Recently, Quentin Tarantino sat down to talk with Larry King, which, as you might suspect, means a lot of Tarantino. Sometimes his interviews can really stray off course, but that's not the case here. He's mostly on point and they're good points.

He discusses the good fortune of finding Christoph Waltz, without whom I can't say if Inglourious Basterds really would have worked as a film. There are people who believe that QT was extremely familiar with Waltz' work before this and that it was genius casting, but that's not what he tells King. Now, there's still the directorial sense of knowing if he's the right guy, but Waltz auditioned just like everybody else. Tarantino also talks about his Oscar chances and who's getting his vote for Best Director. Take a peek:

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'Hurt Locker' Keeps Winning, Picks Up WGA Award

It may be a big deal, but it may not mean anything at all: The Hurt Locker won the Writers Guild Award for Best Original Screenplay last night, and you'd think - if you follow these guild awards at all - that it should signal a win for the film at the Oscars in two weeks. After all, it wasn't too long ago that we pointed out how Mark Boal may have overtaken Quentin Tarantino and Inglourious Basterds in that race at the Academy Awards, or had at least significantly narrowed the gap.

But here's the problem: There's no Tarantino at the Writers Guild Awards, because he's not a member of the WGA. So it's hard to say whether or not this win bodes well for The Hurt Locker and Mark Boal. It's definitely not a bad omen, but Tarantino might still have to be the favorite in that category. It's certainly no worse than second on that list. In the adapted category, it was another win for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air. And that's about the only thing the film will win, even though it was probably the favorite between mid-November and mid-December. The full list of winners follows, via Awards Daily.

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Quentin Tarantino What Ifs His Dream Western

You kind of have to take a believe-it-when-you-see-it approach with Quentin Tarantino. His mind is always spinning and he often gets ahead of himself when talking about projects he'd like to do. To wit: He told me in 2003 his next movie was Inglourious Basterds, so...there you go.

Now Tarantino seems to be zeroing in on another ambitious project, but who knows if it's actually the next thing he does. In a new interview with The Daily News, QT says it's high time he does a western. "But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let's shine that light on ourselves."

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