Coen's Gambit Gets A Squeeze of Liman?

As 'The Bourne Identity' director prepares to take his latest picture - Naomi Watts/Sean Penn thriller 'Fair Game' (sadly not a remake of the William Baldwin/Cindy Crawford classic) - to Cannes, there's word from Deadline that he's got his eye on 'Gambit', a script penned by the brothers Coen. 'Gambit' was a 1966 comedy crime flick starring Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine and Herbet Lom. Caine and MacLaine were involved in an elaborate caper to swipe a priceless antiquity from a millionaire, in the original Caine's character relays his plan in a dream sequence, before we see how it unfolds. The story was conceived by 'The Hustler' screenwriter Sidney Carroll and penned by Alvin ('Ordinary People'/'Spider-Man 2 & 3') Sargent and Jack ('Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines') Davies, whilst legendary cinematographer Ronald Neame directed. The Coen's completed the screenplay a while back, with the film rumoured to be heading for a 2009 release date that - this may surprise you - didn't happen. Colin Firth was at one point rumoured to star, but he denounced this entirely, however suggesting he'd read the screenplay by calling it 'absolutely brilliant'. This is one of a few Coen's projects lingering on the back burner, the most notable of which are'The Yiddish Policemen's Union' based on the 2007 Michael Chabon novel; producer Scott Rudin picked up the rights based on a two page treatment of the book back in 2002, and it was scheduled to shoot after the Coen's finished 'A Serious Man', but then Rudin (who produced their Oscar winning 'No Country For Old Men') wound up working with them on their upcoming remake of Western 'True Grit'. Elsewhere there's their third Clooney-starring 'idiot' film 'Hail Caesar', as well as Clooney's starring/directorial effort 'Suburbicon'for which they provided a screenplay, though delays have struck this production. Not to mention a myriad of other possibilities including an adaptation of James Dickey's novel 'To The White Sea', an anthology movie called 'The Contemplations', a Cold War comedy called '62 Skidoo' and a 'Barton Fink' sequel called 'Old Fink'. But, the Coen's are notoriously peculiar in their process and enjoy toying with people's expectations as well as seeing how far they can push an in-joke; see the very first frames of 'Fargo' for instance! Producer Mike 'Striptease' Lobell has been pushing the 'Gambit' remake for a while and once 'Fair Game' bows at Cannes perhaps Liman will be more inclined to make a decision; currently the film's having distribution deals bashed out by Summit Entertainment who managed to push 'The Hurt Locker' towards Oscar glory and perhaps 'Fair Game's Iraq-centric, true-life plot will be nudged in a similar direction. Liman, of course, has been circling a multitude of other projects, none of which are a sequel to 2008's prologue-of-a-movie 'Jumper' (I, for one, eagerly await 'Cardigan'); instead Liman's been umming and aaaing over an as-yet-untitled moon mission flick at Paramount with Jake Gyllenhal attached or the next attempt to re-imagine 'The Three Musketeers' (odds on it being The 3-D Musketeers?). Regardless, the idea of the notoriously acerbic Coen's tackling the twisty turns of 'Gambit' is intriguing regardless of who's at the helm, though Liman is a reliable hand for the most part.