Why mess up a good thing? The trio that made Casino Royale work so well is now in place for the sequel. We already brought you news that the script for Bond 22 has been turned in by original scripters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but now comes word that, just like last time, Paul Haggis is being brought on board to inject his own voice and do some re-working. The LA Times speculates that with all of the projects he has going on, including editing In the Valley of Elah, Haggis might have asked for a hefty raise to do this again, but I personally can't imagine that it's really a chore -- who wouldn't want to take a more or less finished Bond script and add their own changes to it? The Times goes pretty far in giving Haggis credit for the success of the last Bond film, saying that his writing "helped to revitalize the aging franchise and give it the edgier credibility it needed to hook a new generation of fans." Wow -- sounds like someone is a fan.

Further down in the article, the Times goes the Variety and HR route of re-hashing what has been reported on the online movie sites, when they tell us that four directors are now in contention to helm Bond 22. The "whisperings" --as they call them -- have Tony Scott, Jonathan Mostow, Marc Forster, and Alex Proyas being in talks for the chair, although what LatinoReview actually said is that an offer is already out to Forster, and that makes a lot of sense to me. There's no way Barbara Broccoli is going to go toe to toe with Tony Scott every day on the set -- she wants someone she can keep a lid on. Jonathan Mostow? It's possible, but Forster sounds so right that I'm digging around right now to see if I can confirm it. Stay tuned to Cinematical for updates.