Cameron Crowe will be extremely busy as the year draws to a close. He’s bringing his Pearl Jam documentary, Pearl Jam Twenty, to the Toronto International Film Festival and in December, he’ll unveil We Bought a Zoo, his first feature since 2005’s disappointing Elizabethtown. But Crowe’s lining up a project to ensure that he’ll stay busy well into 2012.

In an interview with IFC News about the Zoo soundtrack and the contributions of composer Jonsi, Crowe said his next project will be an original script he wrote that was inspired by young actors he auditioned but didn’t cast for the Matt Damon dramedy. The Say Anything director said he was so impressed with the talent casting director Gail Levin brought in for Zoo tryouts that he was moved to immediately write a script that would utilize some of those actors.

"I’m trying out this prolific thing," Crowe joked about having three movies out in 2011 (he released an Elton John documentary, The Union earlier this year). "The thing about being prolific? It’s a lot of work."

Does this mean Crowe is ready to return to his days of Say Anything, Almost Famous or even Singles, with young people trying to find their way, backed by a killer soundtrack? The director has hinted at a Say Anything sequel, or is Crowe going younger, exploring adolescence? Either way, we’re just excited to have Crowe back in the saddle, shaking off the bad juju that was caused by Elizabethtown. The director had a stupendous run over his first decade of filmmaking, and we’re eager to see if he can get back to that emotional level of heartfelt storytelling.