Update: Carnahan‘s take is out the window, as Variety now reports that Marvel will regain rights to Daredevil once the October deadline passes. You can read the original story below.

Joe Carnahan‘s Twitter account is a pretty honest rundown of one director’s day-to-day workings, with the Grey filmmaker going past the typical fluff of a Hollywood account and just “telling it like it is.” (You might want to give his tweets a look, is what I’m saying.) Last night, we got what’s not just another taste of that attitude, but a possible admission of failure.

For more than a week, it’s been known that he’s Fox’s top pick for the Daredevil reboot — the man acknowledged as much when word went out — yet, last night, Carnahan told 5,000+ followers that his “idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero [might have gone] up in smoke today.” He followed this up with a little caveat that, no matter if it’s he or the studio, “Time is NOT on anyone’s side.”

This is undoubtedly in reference to Fox’s requirement that Daredevil get shooting by October 10th, so: If they throw out Carnahan, another director needs to be found soon (as in, yesterday), or the character is no longer in their hands. Probably no great loss, except for whatever money they think could be earned in reviving Matt Murdoch. If they actually think they can make money by reviving Matt Murdoch.

Such news is a small shame, if only because I would’ve liked to know where Carnahan could go in making a “hardcore 70′s-style thriller” that’s also about a superhero. I also agree, yes, that “dark and gritty” is far too clichéd by this point — and truly outdated, now that Nolan‘s Batman series is over — so the loss of Daredevil is nothing to mourn over. Maybe we can, now, actually see him and Frank Grillo make Death Wish.

Were you hoping to see Carnahan take on the character? Is this news a big disappointment?