20 stars including Scarlett, Bradley Cooper, and Emily Blunt have signed a petition in my wife Briggs's memory to begin a new era in cancer. It's also been signed by veteran director Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Salt), PBS documentarian Ken Burns, Billie Jean King, former Today show host Meredith Vieira, and 7 professors including two Nobel laureates in Medicine.

How this screenplay came about is that a West End/Broadway director is now attached to a play of Briggs's and mine. Alan Rickman had read it at one point to co-star, generously calling it "beautifully constructed and brilliantly written." After the producer of a major film franchise (who also produces on Broadway) asked for a copy, a premise for a film with that iconic lead character came to me.

Then I thought how much more it could be if I made the female lead equal and gave her a hidden agenda aimed at Washington and the same issues as my petition. Years ago, when Briggs and I had moved out to L.A. on the back of an Off-Broadway of ours, a $20-million offer was made to an A-list actor on a thriller we wrote on spec. His agent had read it and said to use her name to get the offer made by the production arm of the management company we were with at the time. Our luck, she said he unexpectedly got two offers from studios the same week.  

This action-thriller, with a subplot that tackles Congress, the cancer industry, and more, isn't exactly spec material--as in being sent out to producers and the studios by an agent. I've also been out of the loop for too long, writing a book about fighting Briggs's cancer through four centres in Manhattan, and articles on my campaign for HuffPost, Fortune, and others, so I got 'studio coverage' from L.A.'s Tracking Board/Launch Pad to see if it might give me something to quote.

They called it a "taut, twisty thriller," a "wild and riveting ride" with "high stakes and suspense." - "As the story begins, RANES gets an unusual new assignment: beautiful, brilliant scientist and cancer researcher PHYLLIS REYNOLDS has hired him to stop her billionaire inventor father JOHN REYNOLDS from carrying out his own plot."

They wrote that "her own murderous plan is effectively surprising and dramatically impactful," adding, "The script takes a number of intriguing twists and turns as Ranes races to stop Reynolds. The secret scheming and maneuvering of government agents adds even more intrigue to the story, as does the ongoing investigation by LA police detective Joe De Vos."

When they get to the "climactic showdown," they call it "momentous and exciting, providing a poignant, bittersweet end," and close by saying "it will find an enthusiastic audience seeking out smart, dynamic crime thrillers." Chris and Scarlett starring would not only turn it into an anticipated film but help get her subplot to figure into reviews and interviews. By signing you'll hopefully also be helping to begin a new era in cancer.

Let me know when you sign if there's a particular director you'd like to see make it.

(In a short article about my cancer campaign, there's a trailer for a swashbuckling 'romantic drama of loss' we made while in L.A. Sony Corp's digital division liked it so much that they featured it at Sundance, Cinequest, and NAB. The cruel irony, as I write, was that I talked Briggs into playing my late wife, neither of us knowing she already had cancer: From a Sword in Hand in L.A. to a Racquet Against Cancer in NYC.)