Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

The good folks over at Cinescape reported today that JJ Abrams is set to take over for Joe Carnahan as director of the upcoming MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3, which Frank Darabont has been scripting for the last several months.

That’s certainly a distinct possibility. We’d heard that Tom Cruise had recently spent some time on the ALIAS set, talking things over with Abrams, and that Abrams “really wants to do it,” but as late as yesterday afternoon, Paramount refused to confirm Abrams as even being one of the directors in the running.

If he does take over the third film in the franchise, it’s a strong choice. I may not have liked Abrams’ script for SUPERMAN, but I’m a huge admirer of ALIAS, and there’s no question that the work he’s done on that show (particularly in that amazing Super Bowl episode where he turned the entire premise of the program inside out) would be in tune with the tone needed to make a great MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film.

The only problem I can see is the logistics of it. Abrams has his new series LOST about to premiere on ABC, a Greg Grunberg bounty hunter pilot that's about to shoot, and he’s said several times (including in a recent interview that Herc linked to) that he wants to really focus his attention on getting ALIAS back on track after a third season that disappointed some fans. I haven’t seen it yet (hurry up with the damn DVDs!!), but I’m looking forward to it.

Whoever Paramount chooses is going to have to move quickly, as production is set to start in a few months in Berlin. We’ll keep you posted.