While speaking with director Ruben Fleischer this past summer on the set of his next film, 30 Minutes or Less, he delivered some disheartening news it may be a while yet before we see a sequel to Zombieland. Though at least the first draft of the script is done, the director has other commitments that include a buddy cop movie being written for DreamWorks, and a project called Babe in The Woods with Mike White. Now yet another movie might be blocking the zombie comedy's path.

Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has entered early negotiations with Fleischer to direct Tales From The Gangster Squad - a crime drama set around 1940s Los Angeles and crime lords like Mickey Cohen. Rumored for the gig for nearly a month now, the project has already been offered to a couple directors who turned it down, including Ben Affleck and Darren Aronofsky. Based on a series of articles written by Paul Lieberman, the film has been floating around for over two years now without getting made.

As often as I rally against sequels on this site, I must say that I wish Fleischer would do Zombieland 2 instead. I get that it was his first film and that he wants to stretch his wings a bit before becoming a franchise director, but the first movie was just so damn good and filled with characters that demand to be revisited. Even though I know it won't be, let's hope that Tales From The Gangster Squad will be a really small movie that will be able to wrap up production in less than a month. A guy can hope, no?