For the people who enjoy your work, what’s your schedule for the next year?

I wish I could- - I don’t know- - I will be directing something in the fall. I don’t know which one it will be yet.

Can you tell us the choices?

No.

Original material or library?

DAVID’S publicist speaks: He’s sorting it out.

There’s actually both so I’m not being coy. There’s a couple of balls in the air right now that will land in the next month or so. Right now I’m writing a remake of Scanners. I’m not directing that, for Dimension. And I’m fortunately for me, but unfortunately for you, I’m working on a couple of secret projects that I can’t talk about.

How faithful will you be to the original Scanners?

That's an example, you asked about fans and things like that. Cronenberg is absolutely one of my favorite filmmakers. I love the original.

So you won't screw it up?

Well, I hope not. Interestingly enough with Scanners, Scanners is a great movie but it's also very dated to a certain extent. Largely in socio-political terms it's very dated. Cronenberg's movies are always very political and very specific. That original film had a lot to do with corporate America and the Reagan years and all of that stuff and that's not what's happening now. So my whole thing was, and I love that movie and I don't want to ruin that movie, so it's not a slavish remake. It's kind of taking the best stuff from that and trying to apply the same sociopolitical template. What I mean by that is you take the existence of scanners and pick up the newspaper right now and read about all the stuff that's going on in Iraq, or the stuff that's going on in the Justice department or Guantanamo Bay and all the rights that are being trampled on. That's what I'm trying to deal with in the remake of that.

Have you gotten David's blessing?

I haven't yet. I figured the best way to do it would be finish it and send it to him and either get his blessing or take my lashings.

We would have loved to see your version of Ghost Rider. Any feelings on how that came out and what your version was going to be?

Well, my version, which Stephen Norrington was going to direct, was a completely different movie. And Nic Cage was attached to both. Our version was The Haunted Mansion and Mark Steven Johnson is Pirates of the Caribbean. Ours was a super hard R and it was a horror film, just an outright horror film.

So the drinking, smoking…

Yeah, it was harder than Blade. It was really hard. So that would have been really fun. Would that have been as successful at the box office? Probably not.

Are studios not willing to take those risks and does it concern you? Is it frustrating when something like that happens, does it change the way you’re asked to write things?

Yes and no. It’s kind of cyclical because that happens and then 300 comes out and it’s going to do half a billion dollars worldwide and that was pretty hard R. Now everyone’s attitude in Hollywood is, “Oh, I guess that works.” The cool thing about Scanners is, Bob Weinstein said, “Don’t hold back. It’s hard R.”

But he’s Bob Weinstein.

But that’s fun. So with Scanners, it's just fun to know I can just go for it and I don't have to do the toned down version of it.

You’ll still blow up a head?

Of course we're going to blow up a head but we have to go further than blow up a head because we're 20 years down the line.

Are there any superhero characters you’d like to take a crack at, especially with the ability to do a hard R?

I could say something because it’s a wannabe. I would love to one day do an R rated Dr. Strange but who knows. Most of the ones that I’ve worked on, most of the ones I’ve done, I had an opportunity already to work on quite a few. I’m pretty sated in that regard.

Do you just have a 9 to 5 writing regimen?

I’m very regimented. I get up, usually I’ll write one thing from 9 to 11 and I’ll switch gears and write something else from 11 to 1. In the afternoon I’ll do, whether it’s this, I’ll do non writing. Whether it’s editing. Obviously I’m not writing when I’m shooting something but all the writing stuff happens from 9 to 1 and all the nonwriting stuff happens from 1 to 6 or whatever.

Are you more creative in the morning? Is that why the schedule?

I’m a creature of habit and that’s just the way that worked for me and the way I’ve been doing it for 18 years so now it’s very regimented and very- - like I’m always by 9 behind the computer and I always finish by one. I found that it works best for me to create a very specific discipline and just stick to it like it’s a real job.

What challenges are there for you now as a writer and director? Is it tough to be as creative as when you started?

Well, one of the reasons why I started directing was just because that was an opportunity to learn and grow and do something different. I really, really, really like editing for instance. I’ve been fortunate as a writer to have been close to a lot of the directors I work with and be in the editing room but editing is really filmmaking. That’s really what- -

The essence of filmmaking?

It really is and I just love editing. It never ceases to amaze me how you can completely change a scene around or you can pull a close up from a completely different scene. It’s Eisenstein. It’s all of that stuff. I’m just endlessly fascinated by editing. I find that’s the part that I really enjoy.

How do you feel about your TV experiences? Would you try again?

Yes and you’re going to be reading about one in a few weeks.

Is Blade still on?

Blade is unfortunately not still on. It will come out on DVD. My TV experience has been somewhat frustrating because usually to the extent that I’ve done TV, it’s kind of too edgy for TV or doesn’t fit in the typical television box. But I’ll keep trying. I had a good experience, even though it was short lived, the pilot of Threshold. I was really proud of that. For some reason, people don’t know that I directed that but I did. That was really fun. It was fun- - it’s fun working in television because the pace is so different than features. I liken it to the difference between oil painting and watercolor. You’ve got to move so quickly in television, but I think that’s fun.

How is it as a creator to be recognized by fans?

That’s weird and it’s something that’s emerged over the last couple of years. Now if I’m out in public, there’s not a day that goes by where somebody- - that’s been weird. That’s been strange and I think the real thing that did it, obviously was the internet. It was also DVD extras because people would never necessarily know what I look like, but once you do these behind the scenes and things like that, that’s kind of weird.

So you can’t walk the Comic-Con floor?

No, I do that.  But every once in a while I’ll be in a situation where somebody will come up to me in a restaurant or something. You’re just always worried, you never know what’s going to happen. I was actually talking about that with Christian Bale the other night because sometimes you’ll just bump into somebody on the street. It’s always been good so far.