It’s hardly news that veteran stuntman (”Raiders of the Lost Ark”, ”Patriot Games”) turned second unit shooter Vic Armstrong (”Mission : Impossible III”, ”Thor”, ”The Green Hornet”) has been making moves towards becoming a fully-fledged filmmaker himself. It just hasn’t happened yet. Strangely. One might’ve thought it would’ve happened sooner..

Whatever the case, Armstrong looks set to direct a film this coming year – and it’s hardly a breezy warm-up that’ll enable the man to get used to his surroundings before tackling fiercer fare.

“The 39 Steps”.

Yep, you heard right – “The 39 Steps”! The classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller! That’s what Armstrong’s attached to direct. To be fair, the story originated from the pages of a John Buchan novel, so not exactly a remake. Still….wow!

Set up at Film Planet, the pseudo-redo has been penned by Bob Couttie, Neal Bloom, and Debbie Bishop, scribes of the forthcoming “The Chameleon” (which, I believe, Armstrong is also in talks to direct). Word is, the script is tight and obviously, considering Armstrong’s involvement, the action will be ramped up considerably.

Man, I wish Vic luck – this is a brave one to tackle. But as I said, Vic’s spent enough time on film sets to know what makes and what doesn’t make a good movie, it’s window-clear he’ll apply some of that knowledge and know-how to making a decent conspiracy thriller of some sort.

But wow… who would one cast in the roles made famous by Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll? Again, very tough! Can’t even think right now! (But again, Vic has enough famous friends he could give a tingle too!)

John Buchan’s novel and Hitchcock’s consequent film tell of Robert, a Canadian man in London who tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and Robert stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top secret information.

Armstrong’s “39 Steps” is due to get underway sometime next year.