“Halloween II” helmer Rick Rosenthal will direct “Drones”, an action-thriller about the pilots of an unnamed air force done working above the skies in Afghanistan.

The project, written by Matt Witten and based on his stage play of the same name, begins production tomorrow in Los Angeles.

Matt O’Leary (“Mother’s Day”, “Live Free or Die Hard”) and Eloise Mumford (TV’s “Lone Star”) play Sue and Jack, American pilots living and work in Nevada, who function as the long-distance pilots of an unmanned Air Force drone, flying over Afghan airspace, thousands of miles away. When they are ordered to use the drone to take out “major terrorist” Mahmoud Kahlil during his birthday party, a high-tech assassination that will also kill a dozen party guests, including women and children, Sue and Jack quarrel furiously about the ethics of their mission.

Interestingly enough, this whole ‘drones’ topic is what Tony Scott is currently researching as a possible plot device for his “Top Gun” sequel – being that this is how pilots operate now.

Director/Producer Rosenthal also directed “Halloween Resurrection”, “Just a Little Harmless Sex” and over a dozen episodes of TV’s “Smallville”.