Though it didn't really come as a surprise to anyone, Brad Bird proved with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol that he is as competent a live-action director as he is an animation director (which is to say that he's fantastic at it). The fourth Mission: Impossible movie was one of the best blockbuster films of last year in large part thanks to Bird's brilliant direction - particularly in the IMAX sequences - and ability to put together an entertaining story. Since taking on the project, though, the question that has hung in the air is which medium Bird will choose for his next movie. Vulture may the answer.

The site reports that Bird is now contemplating directing Here There Be Monsters, the sea monster movie written by Brian Helgeland (the Oscar winning writer of L.A. Confidential). For a while Robert Zemeckis was interested in bringing the script to the screen, however, now Bird has been taking meetings with the folks over at Legendary - though no deal is in place just yet. The story follows Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones as he is hired by a shipping magnate look into the disappearance of ships in the North Atlantic. Jones believes that the reason is a giant sea monster and goes on a quest to kill the wretched beast.

While I am scared that Bird will get sucked into the world of live-action films permanently and leave animation behind - which would be a tragic loss for the medium - the truth is that I have absolute faith in anything he decides to do simply because he knows the value of a good story. If Here There Be Monsters ends up being a story that he wants to tell, I'm totally on board.