A remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds has been talked about for quite some time now, with Martin Campbell and Naomi Watts attached to direct and star, respectively.  The project went cold in the trades for a while, but a few weeks ago one star of the original film, Rod Taylor, said that the filmmakers had been talking to him about casting (because he’s involved in movies at all anymore how?) and had mentioned that George Clooney was a high possibility to take on his former role as Mitch Brenner.  Despite the strong chance that Taylor had little to no clue what he was talking about, the timing seemed right for the casting of the role, since the film was skedded for a mid-2009 release.  Or was it?

Today while perusing Variety, I came across an article that focused on Campbell (the supposed director of Birds) and another director, Greg Mottola, and did a rundown of the duos’ projects for the upcoming year.  Nowhere in this article is The Birds mentioned.  As of now Campbell is finishing work on the Mel Gibson thriller Edge of Darkness, which began shooting in August and still hasn’t secured a release date – indicating that production on that film could be far from done.  Campbell is next committed to go straight from Darkness to the action-thriller Nagasaki Deadline.  Action movies don’t get shot over night, people – Campbell is booked solid for ’09.

So where does this leave The Birds?  Is it off the table?  Has Campbell departed the project?  Is the project adjusting dates to accommodate the schedule of Clooney?  Guess we’ll have to wait for word from the studio… or Rod Taylor.