Uh oh: "Princess of Mars" hits a bump in the road

From Variety this morning: (Subscription link, sorry: alternately, see this link at Superherohype.com…) “Robert Rodriguez’s resignation from the DGA has jeopardized Paramount’s development of its tentpole pic ‘A Princess of Mars.’ The problem: As a DGA signatory, Par is required to employ only guild directors.

“…’We are in discussions with Mr. Rodriguez and are trying to come up with a solution,’ said Rob Friedman, vice chair and chief operating officer of Paramount’s motion picture group.

“Rodriguez’s recent move to leave the DGA was triggered by his desire to co-direct “Sin City” for Dimension Films with Frank Miller, who created, wrote and illustrated the three-book graphic novel series on which the “Sin City” pic is based.”

The article goes on to quote the DGA on their reluctance to allow “co-director” deals, which is the source of the problem. Sometimes they do allow it in “exceptional circumstances where two individuals have demonstrated an ability to reflect a singular vision through previous directing experience…”. But the key words here are “have demonstrated…”.

The resignation situation apparently arose because of the nature of the deal between Rodriguez and Frank Miller: Frank would not allow the “Sin City” project to be optioned for film until Rodriguez guaranteed him the opportunity to co-direct (a stance for which I feel strange sympathy, though I don’t know if I’d take matters that far on any literary property I own save one). The DGA probably refused to issue a waiver because Frank had no previous directorial credit.

Anyway, let’s see what happens now…