Spike Lee has never failed to make headlines with his penchant for starting feuds with other filmmakers and designing vodka bottles, but the last time he made waves with one of his movies was in 2006 with Inside Man, a taut thriller that many viewed as a departure from his earlier, racially charged and frequently operatic films. Lee followed it up with Miracle at St. Anna, which was a very expensive flop, but apparently he's now ready to flex his thriller skills once more.

According to Deadline, Lee is closing a deal to direct Nagasaki Deadline, a terrorism-tinged thriller that has been kicking around in development since well before 9/11. The film focuses on an FBI agent's attempts to stop two terrorist attacks planned for American soil, which he believes are somehow tied into American history. It sounds odd enough to appeal to Lee but also mainstream enough to have a major appeal, which is surely exactly what producers Alcon Entertainment, Lightstorm and 8:38 productions are hoping for here.

While there's no promise that this film will turn out as well as Inside Man, I do like the notion of Lee, and not some generic hack director, bringing us a terrorism thriller. At the very least we know it will be different.