Liman and Besson to do porridge

They may not be thought of as founts of creativity, but prisons have provided the setting for numerous artistic triumphs. Today brings forth news of two fresh penitentiary-based projects, as movie big beasts Doug Liman and Luc Besson prepare to enter the cultural field which has previously given us Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, goggle-box masterpiece Oz, and Stallone vs. Sutherland flick Lock Up.

Let's butter you up with the softer of the two stories first: since largely giving directing the heave ho, Luc Besson has carved out a highly successful niche as writer-producer of cash-swallowing action films so vacuous they make his old Cinéma du look movies seem like offerings of Cocteauesque depth and density in comparison. Sophisticated wordplay and narrative innovation seem unlikely to feature too heavily in the latest announced Besson-overseen opus either, with Variety reporting that the Frenchman will tackle writing and producing chores on future prison thriller Section 8.

The movie's title apparently also doubles up as the name of the Earth-orbiting slammer in which the action unfolds. While we know this space pen is filled to the gills with loopy lags, few other plot details have surfaced as yet; although it does not require a leap of the imagination of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo prodigiousness to guess that breakouts, shiv-giving jailbirds, mean-spirited wardens, draconian guards, and really, really big explosions could well be on the cards. Principal photography is set to commence this summer, with Section 8 shooting in 3D under the joint direction of Stephen St. Leger and James Mather, who previously delivered the effects-intensive short Prey Alone. Irish duo St. Leger and Mather worked with Besson on the screenplay, and will have a reputed $30m budget with which to play – a similar sum to such prior Besson productions as Taken and The Transporter movies.

Looking set to share little common ground with Section 8 beyond barred windows and arrow-stitched pyjamas is Attica, based around the famous riot at the prison of that name in New York state. The Playlist reports that Bourne Identity director Doug Liman is developing the project through his own Hypnotic production company, and that Oscar-nominated Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher will pen the script. Writer and director have apparently already paid a visit to the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility where a total of 43 people died over four days in September 1971.

To boil a long and intensely complex historical episode down to some basics - late summer 1971 saw the populace of Attica prison at breaking point. Overcrowding and poor conditions, allied to unrest fostered by the death of Black Panther George Jackson in San Quentin prison a few weeks earlier, meant revolt was very much in the air, and on the morning of 9 September it duly arrived as a contingent of inmates overpowered their guards on the way to breakfast. A full-scale riot swiftly broke out, with large numbers of the facility's 2,200 prisoners involved. State police moved in and retook much of the prison, but rioters remained in control of D Yard, an exercise space where they were holding 39 hostages.

The riot leaders put together a list of demands, while governor Nelson A. Rockefeller responded by summoning the National Guard, and a stand off between authorities and prisoners developed. Negotiations stalled over requests that the D Yard inmates be granted amnesty for offences committed during the riot, and that safe passage to a 'non-imperialist country' be provided for those prisoners who desired it. The command was given for Attica to be retaken, and on 13 September corrections officers and state police stormed the yard under cover of helicopter-dispensed tear gas. 39 people died – 29 inmates and 10 hostages – with most being killed by volleys of police gunfire fired indiscriminately into the tear gas clouds. With a guard and three inmates having already been killed during the early stages of the riot, the final death toll stood at 43. A Congressional investigation ensued, and in 1974 attorneys acting on behalf of Attica inmates brought a $2.8m class-action lawsuit against state and prison officials. A settlement of $8m was finally agreed in January 2000, which was divided between approximately 500 current and former inmates depending on their levels of mistreatment during the riot and in the weeks following.

If you can excuse the crass insensitivity in momentarily putting aside the real emotional trauma and human cost bound up in the episode, then the Attica riot would seem to deliver just about everything Hollywood looks for in a movie. There is drama and action, bloodshed, injustices, abuses of power, issues of race and class, establishment authority being pitted against counter-culture rebellion, and – if Liman and Fletcher so desire – a big courtroom finale. It all promises a movie that will be awards season worthy (politically charged real-life history always going down a treat with critics), while containing enough lurid incident to keep the box-office ticking over - rather in the mould of Fincher's Zodiac.

Attica (a working title) might seem a curious choice of project for Liman, the man who impressed initially with Swingers before delivering the empty flash of Go, the first Bourne (which this writer loathed, despite later enjoying the sequels), and more recent empty-headed actioners Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Jumper. However as the director explains on his blog, he has a personal investment in the material, with his attorney father Arthur L. Liman having run one of the investigations into the Attica riots.

Before he delves into Attica, Liman has already warmed up the brain farm with his forthcoming Fair Game, based on the Valerie Plame affair which ultimately saw Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff “Scooter” Libby sentenced to 30 months on perjury charges back in 2007 (though George W. Bush swiftly commuted the jail time). Naomi Watts stars as CIA operative Plame, while Sean Penn is her diplomat husband Joe Wilson, with the word being that Fair Game (certainly not to be confused with the Cindy Crawford-starring, Joel Silver-produced movie from 1995) will take its bow in Cannes this coming May. Till then content yourself with the below still from the film, and we dare you not to find anything chucklesome about the way Sean Penn looks in it.