Buried at the bottom of a Variety piece about a new script optioned at Castle Rock by producer Mike Lobell is a bit of news about what might be the next film from the Coen Brothers-- but only as writers. While the two are hard at work putting together their remake of the Western True Grit, Lobell is apparently busy selling a script from the Coens that's a take on the 1966 British caper comedy Gambit, which starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.

The production has apparently been going in stops and starts for years now, and Lobell is currently seeking a new director, which presumably means that the Coens won't be directing their own screenplay. That would be the first time that happened since they wrote 1985's Crimewave for buddy Sam Raimi, and obviously this is a totally different scenario. Why have the Coens left the project alone, and what will it turn out like without them behind the camera? Hopefully Lobell will at least give us the chance to find out.