Veteran filmmaker John Badham is ready to get back on the feature saddle again. He’s in talks to take on In The Rough, written by Leslie Boehm (the man who’s given us Dante’s Peak, Daylight and The Darkest Hour). Rough is an action-adventure concerning a retired hunter, a female Red Cross employee and a CIA agent searching for priceless jewels in the Indian jungles. Adventure ensues [Moviehole].

Badham began his career in the early 70s directing television, both episodes and movies, until 1977, when he broke out as a film director with Saturday Night Fever. Since then he’s helmed a vast variety of entertainment, at least one of which you probably love. His films range from Short Circuit to WarGames to Stakeout to the Point Break-wannabee Drop Zone (which is a personal guilty pleasure).

In the mid-90s he gave us Nick of Time, a mildly interesting Johnny Depp action film that operates in real time and features Christopher Walken as a baddie, which is always nice. He also gave us the underseen, entertaining art forgery film Incognito starring Jason Patric in 1998.

Then the man disappeared from the feature game, taking on random episodes of several different cable shows, including Psych, Heroes and Las Vegas (God, remember that show?). He tops that strange, fascinating list of reliable, not-quite-A-list Hollywood directors, a list that also includes Gregory Hoblit (Frequency, Fracture), Roger Donalson (The Recruit, The Bank Job, the upcoming Seeking Justice), Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown, U-571) and others.

Will you welcome his return to the game?