The trades reported today Phil Noyce is attached to direct a flick titled “Above Suspicion” – about the only FBI agent to be convicted of murder. Sounds interesting. Thing is, it’s not the done deal we’re told it is. Seems the announcement was a tad premature.

“As sometimes happens the production company have taken a development deal and placed it in the trades”, a long-time and reliable source told Moviehole. “There is no deal for Noyce to direct “Above Suspicion” and not even a tentative start date.Certainly not the fall of 2009,when Noyce will be in the middle of editing SALT for Sony”.

Even then, Noyce has two other films he’s looking to do after “Salt”, the thriller starring Angelina Jolie, he’s shooting early next year. They “Moral Hazard” for Spitfire Films and “Dirt Music” possibly with Russell Crowe*, through Noyce’s own Australian production company.

* Yep, Crowe is in talks to do Noyce’s long-gestating “Dirt Music” – a film the late, great Heath Ledger was once onboard. The movie is an adaptation of the Tim Winton novel about a couple in a loveless relationship and is set in a remote fishing village on the West Australian coast.