Genius, Oscar winning animation director Brad Bird, the mind behind such masterpieces as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, is about make the jump from cartoons to live action movies. Slashfilm says he may make his live action directorial debut with something called 1906.

1906 is based on a same named book by James Dalessandro about the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The book is supposed to be about more than just a natural disaster though. It’s described as a tale of political intrigue, corruption, romance, rescue, revenge, and murder based on actual historical facts.

Bird should have no problem with the effects, after anything more than a fender bender is usually done with computer animation these days anyway. I have a hard time imagining him tackling politics and intrigue, but he’s been so good at everything else he’s done the thought of him attempting it is nothing short of fascinating. This is clearly a guy not afraid to step out of his element. I’ll follow Brad Bird anywhere, until he does something to convince me otherwise my default position on his work is that it will be brilliant. His commitment to story and character first should work just as well with real actors as it does with computer generated ones.