'Blue Good-by' For Gary Fleder

The Deep Blue Good-by
Gary Fleder soon could be saying hello to "The Deep Blue Good-by." The director of "Runaway Jury" and "Kiss the Girls" is in talks to direct the Fox project, based on the first title in crime novelist John MacDonald's prolific Travis McGee series.

The 21 McGee novels, most of which were written in the 1960s and '70s and all of which feature a color in their title, could be turned into a franchise by Fox. They feature McGee, a free-living bachelor and reluctant hero who lives on a houseboat in Florida and works as a "salvage consultant," recovering property and money for clients and taking half the fee in return.