There was a weird period about a month ago when the fate of Tales from the Gangster Squad, a period action film about the Los Angeles police department, was wrapped up in that of Wolverine 2, a superhero sequel. The connection was Darren Aronofsky, who was considering directing both of them but eventually went with Wolvy, leaving room for a rumored shortlist of alternates to take his place.

No director has yet been picked, but The Los Angeles Times has an update on the list of possibilities. Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, of all people, tops the list, having just wrapped the comedy 30 Minutes or Less and still hot after Zombieland (remember when he was up for the Mission: Impossible 4 job?) If Fleischer doesn't pan out, though, they're also considering Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilha, whose Elite Squad won major international attention, and Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper, who was on that early shortlist we mentioned before.

It's a wildly diverse list of possibilities, to the point that it seems Warner Bros. is willing to go in some really interesting directions with the material, which producer Dan Lin describes as "The Untouchables on the streets of L.A." Making an unconventional choice of director would be a good way to ensure that this fascinating material doesn't turn utterly generic on the screen--now it's just a matter of deciding which odd choice can turn out to be the right one.