Last July, we reported that Robert Zemeckis was circling screenwriter Brian Helgeland's Revolutionary War Hero/Sea Monster mash-up Here There Be Monsters.  Helgeland's script takes real-life Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones and pits him against sea monsters after he's hired to investigate the disappearance of a number of merchant ships.  Zemeckis passed on the project, but Vulture reports that the great Brad Bird is considering the project.While I have no love for Helgeland's scripts (L.A. Confidential was a long time ago), Bird never neglects story and I imagine he'll have a strong influence on the screenplay if he signs on.  With Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Bird proved he could direct live-action just as well as animation.  I'm down for anything Bird wants to direct, but I'm curious about what his interest in Monsters says about the status of his passion project, 1906.  Despite his success on Mission: Impossible, 1906 may still be too expensive to make, especially in today's economic climate where studios are willing to axe potential blockbusters due to high budgets.  But if Bird keeps knocking out hits, then maybe he'll get to finally direct his historical earthquake film.