Remember when Ron Howard was Opie? Can you believe that dude grew up to become a well-regarded film director with an Academy Award under his belt? And I’m supposed to feel bad for other child actors when they start snorting coke? No, thank you. Despite his creepy gingerness, Howard has made respectable darlings like A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13, but he’s also recently gotten the thriller bug.

And it looks as though that bug will keep biting, as Howard has signed on to direct an adaptation of a Robert Ludlum (writer of the Bourne series novels) book, The Parsifal Mosaic. According to Variety, David Self, of Road to Perdition fame, will adapt the novel, and Brian Grazer will produce (as if Howard would make a movie with anyone else). The novel follows a CIA operative who believes he witnessed the assassination of his lover who had been identified as a KGB agent.

With the way The DaVinci Code worked out (I haven’t caught Angels and Demons yet, but plan to at the $1 theatre this weekend), it’s tough to get excited for another thriller from Howard. If he intends on making a good movie, he’s going to need to diversify. Tom Hanks can’t play everything.