The arrival of August has left me wondering what happened to Passion, the film that Brian De Palma was scheduled to start shooting this month. There doesn’t appear to have been any development on it since that first announcement from January, which puts it in the same league as films like Toyer and the Untouchables prequel, as those are also movies he seemingly never got around to. But Deadline brings the good news that De Palma will begin production on at least one movie by the end of 2011, The Key Man.

The film — which was written by Joby Harold, produced by QED International and Safehouse Pictures, and will be distributed by Open Road — follows “a single father who’s targeted by U.S. government agents because his body contains answers to important national secrets.” This project is already being compared to Three Days of the Condor and Marathon Man, due to its 70s, paranoia-infused style.

De Palma has more than proven that he can do films of this sort, with thrillers like Blow Out and Sisters being some of the best of their respective decades. Even offerings of his that don’t quite work out, like Snake Eyes or Raising Cain, have a sense of style to them that many others lack. Harold‘s screenwriting history, sadly, is a little slim; the only script of his that’s gone into production is Awake, while projects like All You Need Is Kill and Army of the Dead are still developing.

Still, being a big fan of Brian De Palma‘s filmography leaves me in a very natural state of excitement at this news. The past decade was pretty rough on the guy, with all of his films from that era bombing, despite a couple of them being misunderstood. (Seriously, check out Femme Fatale.) Because of that, it’s been hard for another movie of his to get off the ground. News like this is something I’ve been waiting for — and, like I said above, have already received but not delivered on. Personally, knowing that a new film of his could be arriving in the next couple of years is the best news to emerge this week.

Are you a De Palma fan? Does this project sound like something that he could handle well?