JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot production shingle has hired
Monica Breen and
Alison Schapker, executive producers on his t.v. show Fringe to rewrite his latest super duper secret project which is set up at Paramount. The movie is provisionally titled
Zanbato and
according to Deadline;
the script involves Japanese history and robotics: swashbuckling robots with swords'. Intriguing as ever.
Knowing the Abrams stable, that's probably only the tip of the iceberg and Zanbato is probably a secret working title. However it is known that the project once had Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) attached to direct. The two female writer/producers have a long standing relationship with Abrams, having worked with him since
Alias and through
Lost and onto the aforementioned Fringe. They also recently wrote the heightened reality crime drama
Pulp for television under the Bad Robot banner which now looks like it will be turned into a graphic novel or comic book series. Not a lot of detail on this one just yet, and short of breaking into the Bad Robot Offices and hiding in the ceiling it'll be a good while before we hear any real detail about this one. Just how Abrams is able to sustain the kind of unprecedented secrecy for most projects he has in development including the impending Super 8 and the late summer shooting Star Trek 2, is as big a mystery as the projects themselves. His offices must be the most locked down and secure sites in America.