Though not exactly a filmmaker working at the peak of his powers, Roman Polanski is still one of the most interesting directors working today. Age has robbed the pint-sized polish wonder of some of his potency, but the guy is still one of the most talented visual filmmakers alive. In the last ten years he’s made only two movies, both of which felt like little more than desperate pleas for Oscar recognition from a filmmaker who has long been banned from Hollywood. One of these attempts was successful in achieving his greedy goal (The Pianist) and the other was not (Oliver Twist).

Both of Polanski’s prestige pictures were pretty good, but ultimately it was a little frustrating to have gone ten years without Polanski making another entry into his beloved go-to genre the thriller. That’s what the guy is best at and based on the evidence of A Knife In The Water, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Macbeth, Chinatown, and The Tenant, it would be hard to argue otherwise. However, it’s been a decade since his last foray into the genre, the underrated but still not particularly impressive Johnny Depp vs. Satan vehicle The Ninth Gate. It’s about time this guy got back to messing with audiences heads again. Fortunately it looks like Polanski agrees and has just put the final pieces in place to start filming a new thriller.

Polanski’s next film will be entitled The Ghost and before you get too excited don’t worry, this isn’t a remake of the Patrick Swayze camp classic (although I would love to see Polanski’s take on the pottery scene). No, this is a film based on Robert Harris’ novel about a former British prime minister who takes off to an exotic island to write his memoirs only to have his aide drown which leads him down a path of political and sexual intrigue (sounds to me like this guy really should have waited a few extra months before writing his memoirs. He almost missed out on all the good stuff). With his aide gone the former politician brings in a ghost writer to help him finish the book only to have the writer delve a little too deep into his past and uncover some disturbing secrets with far-reaching consequences

With an intriguing premise and a superstar director, you know that big name actors have been lining up to appear in this one. Polanski has signed on the likes of character specialist Tom Wilkinson, smug Bond specialist Pierce Brosnan (as the prime minister), cougar specialist Kim Cattrall, ridiculously beautiful specialist Olivia Williams, heroin lightsaber specialist Ewan McGregor (as the ghost writer), and…uh…crap specialist Jim Belushi. It’s certainly an interesting cast that promises to be unpredictable. I really wish that I could say that Jim Belushi wasn’t involved, but I’m sure Polanski has some use for him (plus Oliver Stone was able to get a decent performance out of the lesser Belushi in Salvador, so there is always a flicker of hope).

Shooting will start in Berlin on February 4th and although it’s far too early to predict the quality of the film, I think we can assume that the script is good given that it’s courted so many big name actors. I’m just excited to see Polanski returning to his comfort zone. It’s nice to able to talk about him as a director again and not just as an exiled sex offender.