Street Kings Writer Jamie Moss Handed X-Men: First Class Assignment

Heads were spinning off the neck last night when Bryan Singer, the acclaimed director of X-Men and X2: X-Men United, announced that he would be returning to the franchise after Brett Ratner's miserable attempt at the third installment. Though very little has been made of the project since September, when it was announced that shooting would begin next year, we now have news two days in a row, as Fox has announced who will be adapting the story.

According to THR, Jamie Moss has been hired by the studio to write the screenplay for the film. The project will Moss' second, the first being the Keanu Reeves cop film Street Kings, an adaptation of James Ellroy's novel The Nightwatchman.

While I can't be critical of his past work as I never saw the film, I am disappointed that Fox didn't go with David Hayter, also known as the guy who wrote the first two films. It is entirely possible that Hayter was approached about the project and declined, but I find it difficult to give Fox that much credit. Really, the story boils down to this: after two incredibly awful installments, Moss better do a good job or he is going to have a HUGE fanboy target on his back.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.