To follow up his emotional, historically rich acting showcase Milk, Gus van Sant seems to be taking things a little easier-- or at least younger. He's in negotiation to direct Restless, a screenplay by first-timer Jason Lew that's described in THR as "a contemporary and distinct take on young love."

Before all you young writers start sending van Sant your screenplays, know that Lew isn't just your average struggling screenwriter. He went to college with Bryce Dallas Howard, who encouraged him to write the screenplay and then showed it to her dad, Ron Howard, who passed it on to Van Sant. So it's all a happy story of how Hollywood connections will get you anywhere. It's OK to be jealous of Lew, no matter how exciting this project sounds right now.

Van Sant has proven very, very adept at telling stories about young people in movies like Paranoid Park and Elephant, though given the participation of producer Brian Grazer, this project seems a bit more mainstream than those. Still, it's actually pretty exciting to think of how van Sant will bring that incisive kind of filmmaking to a more traditional story that sounds a bit like 500 Days of Summer, but knowing van Sant, probably a good bit weirder.