Fresh off the release of his summer blockbuster "Prometheus," director Ridley Scott announced plans Thursday for a new film project with screenwriter Steve Zaillian, whom he worked with previously on "American Gangster" and "Hannibal." The unusual angle for such a self-serious director, who often wields weighty themes and even weightier budgets with films like "Blade Runner," "Black Hawk Down," and "Gladiator," is the movie's premise.

It's about a traffic jam, Albeit a very large one. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Scott and Zaillian have acquired the rights to make a feature-film adaption of the 2003 BBC "pseudo-documentary" "The Day Britain Stopped" for Twentieth Century Fox. A source speaking to the site said the film was less of a "remake," but is, rather, "more inspired by the original."

The original telefilm that aired on BBC2 was about a fictionalized disaster where a train strike sets off a chain of reactions that ultimately culminates in the complete and utter destruction of Britain's transportation system and infrastructure. The film is being billed as a disaster movie.

Scott and Zaillian are planning to produce the film together under their respective banners, Scott Free and Film Rites. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the two are currently searching for a writer to adapt the script, hoping to push the idea of a "manmade disaster" as a meaningful trigger to "ignite a global catastrophe."

Zaillian's previous screenwriting credits include such classics as "Schindler's List" and "A Civil Action."

Watch the original BBC mockumentary, written and directed by Gabriel Range and produced Simon Finch, below.

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