News In Brief: Joust optioned and Bond stunt master hired

Yes, Labor Day weekend in the US is still taking its toll on proper news, so instead of making you plough through two skeletal stories, we thought we’d compact them into one chunky round-up…

Word from the Bond camp – via Variety – is that Dan Bradley, the man who brought superb fight scenes and car action to Jason Bourne’s sequels has been tapped to handle second unit on the as-yet-untitled follow-up to Casino Royale. It’s a sure sign that the Bond producers want to continue to take leaves from Bourne’s book, and it’ll hopefully lead to even more intense action than Royale. Plus, with a director like Marc Forster handling the characters, finding someone with experience to crank out the action was a must.

On a completely different film level, game adaptations have now become such popular sources for movies that entire production companies are being created just to send titles flying into development. The latest is Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters’ company CP Productions, which has just the rights to 1982 computer game Joust.

The odd-sounding game features knights riding ostriches battling flying buzzards. Oh, and the ostriches could fly, which isn’t exactly usual for the breed... We’d tell you who’s directing it, but there’s no word yet as it’s still just an option. Still, we expect if it makes it to the screen, it’ll be loaded down with CGI and a back-story about a lone warrior with a troubled past. Or something.

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