John McTiernan has been in director jail ever since 2003's Basic. Now he's about to go to regular jail too for lying to the FBI during a wiretapping investigation (don't lie to the FBI).
I guess he really earned that last bit (maybe? That whole wiretapping thing is way too big and complicated for me to follow, but it involves a lot more Hollywood people than just McTiernan), but the bad director rap is bullshit. This is the guy who not only directed Die Hard but the only really good Die Hard sequel. And that's saying nothing of the more debatable qualities of Predator, The Hunt for Red October, and fucking Last Action Hero.
Because he's made so many lovable action films, there's a Facebook page called "Free John McTiernan" dedicated to getting McTiernan out of jail via digital protest by fans and some of McTiernan's famous previous co-workers.
According to these fine folks, McTiernan is currently preparing his next film despite his upcoming jail sentence:
Exclusive news from Free John McTiernan ! The director isn't giving up hope of gettingback behind the camera some day, and has been working for several months now on a script called Warbirds, inspired from the adventure films of George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting). A very dear project for McTiernan, it tells the tale of a group of aerial firefighters who also lead a secret life during the winter. For the past few years, McTiernan had to give up on six different projects, as he was unable to get completion bonds from insurance companies. Let's all cross our fingers so that this one comes to pass.
This would probably get rolling after McTiernan's upcoming year in jail. While I'm excited for him to work again, this this doesn't sound at all like the kind of movie anyone would make today. I hear that brief synopsis and can only picture guys like Joe Don Baker, Nick Nolte, Fred Ward, and Ernest Borgnine. We don't have many guys like that in movies anymore. I'm having trouble deciding if my excitement about a new McTiernan film outweighs my distaste for a film about "aerial firefighters" who look like Michael Fassbender and James Franco.
Still, a year in prison is bad news for anyone, but it ironically could be the one thing that'll get McTiernan out of the prison he put himself in by remaking Rollerball. That in itself is kind of interesting.