COIN LOCKER BABIES, the Sean Lennon/Tadanobu Asano/Asia Argento flick based on Ryu Murakami's freaky novel of the same name, is one of those projects that first reared its head waaay back around 2000 and then disappeared, reappeared, swapped directors, and juggled the cast in the intervening 8 years so much that it'll make lightning shoot out of your navel just thinking about it.

The Ryu Murakami novel it's based on has been described to me a couple of different ways. Here's one:

"...the story revolves around a pop star and his twin and how they're trying to track down and murder the mother who abandoned them in a coin locker as, you guessed it, babies..." (Maboroshii Blog)

"COIN LOCKER BABIES...tells the tale of two unwanted infants abandoned in adjacent train station lockers at birth...Following a stint in an orphanage and some serious hypnotherapy, the pair are then raised as brothers before moving to Toxitown, a polluted city full of freaks and hustlers...Once there, one of the brothers becomes a transvestite rocker looking for fame and love, the other a pole vaulter whose girlfriend encourages him to destroy Tokyo." (Time Out London)

Novice filmmaker but experienced self-promoter, Jordan Galland (who has since gone on to write, direct and produce ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE UNDEAD), was originally the co-writer with Sean Lennon and he was also set to direct (no longer true, according to IMDB). Not much happened with the project, although during that time Galland's band (Dopo Yume) appeared in a fashion spread in Vogue and were quoted in Vanity Fair saying, "If you want to understand Dopo Yume...then read Ada." That would be Ada by Vladimir Nabokov. That would also be the kind of thing that would get your burned at the stake if you said it pretty much anywhere else on earth except in Vanity Fair. Meanwhile, the movie moved along, bubbling up in a flurry of news items in 2005 before once more lapsing into silence, although it now has three writers attached to it besides Mr. Galland. Which might explain some of the possible script changes hinted at when there were ads posted in New York City for production assistants to work on the film back around 05. But since 2005...silence. Over at the Maboroshii blog there's news that it's bubbled up once more, plus the estimable Mr. Rucka has links to a Sean Lennon video that's supposed to include camera test footage made for COIN LOCKER BABIES. Also, while at the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago to present a screening of MONGOL, one viewer reports that during the Q&A Tadanobu Asano confirmed that he would be playing Gazelle in COIN LOCKER BABIES but the viewer said he "did seem kind of tentative about it."

So...will 2008 see production of COIN LOCKER BABIES? Or will 2008 be much like 2007. And 2006. And 2005...and 2004...and 2003...and 2002...

(Thanks to Jason for sending in some of this news, and thanks to Kristen and Nick for the rest of it)