For all of those John Carpenter fans out there, including myself, the word on the street is that Carpenter’s next project after ‘Scared Straight’ starring Nic Cage may, or may not, be a film called ‘The Prince’ written by Jeremy Passmore, who is currently screening his film ‘Special’ on the festival circuit.

Apparently Carpenter has shown a strong interest in making the movie, which he and Passmore agree is best with its “brutal and violent and dark” ending. The only question is, will this project ever get off the ground? We all know about the Hollywood executive’s addiction to happy endings. ’The Prince’ is somewhat of a trend-breaker for Carpenter, who is best known for his eerie horror/thriller movies, but I think would benefit from Carpenter’s experience making the ‘Escape From…’ films. ‘The Prince’ is a sort of gangster movie, but with a twist.

In an interview with writer-director Jeremy Passmore (Special), CHUD.com’s Devin Faraci acquired this revealing bit of info…

“It’s a bit of a departure. It’s definitely more of a very character based crime movie. I don’t know what’s going on with it right now, but the premise is that this guy was the most [badass] gangster of all time in Las Vegas, and he’s left the life and created this whole new world. His wife died but he’s raising his kid. He’s living in the middle of nowhere and he’s this very religious, trying to live a straight life guy. His daughter is now going to school at UCLA and she disappears, and he goes looking for her. The trail leads to Vegas and he has to go get her, and the entire city kind of comes down on top of him.”

[source: CHUD.com]